


Whatever Happens Here, We Remain

by Batsutousai



Series: Overprotective Criminals 'Verse [4]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Depression, Established Relationship, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Joe West's A+ Parenting, Lewis Snart's A+ Parenting, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Relationship Reveal, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-15 09:51:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11803590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batsutousai/pseuds/Batsutousai
Summary: With what Barry hopes is the final battle with Wells on the horizon, there are only two people he really trusts to help him take out the other speedster. Getting them to come will be easy – they've been wanting a crack at him since Christmas – but getting the rest of his team to accept their help? That's going to be a little more difficult.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> About the time I started working on _A Distraction of Ice and Fire_ , I realised I would be writing something for the season finale. Which would, of course, have to involve Len and Mick helping Team Flash with Wellsobard. (Which meant I needed to figure out how much everyone knew about Barry's relationship; enter _Relationship Status_.) Are y'all excited? Cuz _I'm_ excited. XD
> 
> This touches briefly on e20 _The Trap_ , skips most of e21 _Grodd Lives_ , and goes right into e22 _Rogue Air_ and e23 _Fast Enough_. (With a side of _Arrow_ s3e23 _My Name is Oliver Queen_.)  
>  I sort of, while getting into the fandom, fell in love with the idea that a Barry who spent time with criminals before or during his first year as the Flash would have been a lot more proactive with getting the metahumans in the pipeline into more humane accommodations, so assume they're all either in Iron Heights, or Len and Mick broke them free en route. (I maybe have a vague idea for a headcanon in this 'verse where Barry helps them free Shawna, because I think this Barry would have a soft spot for her committing crimes to help her criminal boyfriend.) ANYWAY, the point is, there aren't any metas in the pipeline, so the whole mess with the Snarts betraying Team Flash doesn't happen.
> 
>  
> 
> You can also read this at [Dreamwidth](https://batsutousai.dreamwidth.org/381453.html) or [LiveJournal](http://batsutousai.livejournal.com/383194.html).  
> Cover on [tumblr (as a batch)](http://batsutousai.tumblr.com/post/169502737564/instead-of-doing-anything-productive-last) and [deviantArt](https://batsutousai.deviantart.com/art/Whatever-Happens-Here-We-Remain-Fanfic-Cover-727077672).

It isn't until he's walking up the stairs to their current safehouse – after a long day of really shitty revelations and too many hours spent searching the city with no sign of Eddie – that it occurs to him that he hadn't seen any evidence of there being a camera inside the flat he shares with Len and Mick. Which, given, they'd only moved to their current flat four days ago, but there actually hadn't been _any_ video surveillance of Len or Mick, so far as he'd seen. (Not that he'd really had time to do much digging, but Cisco had gone through everything while he was searching for Eddie, making a list of all the cameras they would need to pull, and he hadn't said anything. And, for all that Cisco was super good about Barry's being in a polyamorous relationship, he probably would have had something to say about who Barry was sleeping with.) 

Still, as soon as he gets in, despite his exhaustion, he does a quick run through the safehouse, looking for any sign of cameras that look like the tech they'd pulled around S.T.A.R. Labs and coming up empty. Is the lack because of his own paranoia making it difficult for Dr Wells to follow him home and plant them, or because Len or Mick are paranoid enough to have spotted any shortly after they'd been placed? 

"Barry?" Mick calls, and he realizes he's stopped in the middle of the living room and his–

Barry blinks down at his hands, a little disturbed to find them _vibrating_.

Warm hands wrap around his biceps and Barry looks up to find Mick watching him with that little crease between his brows that means he's really, _really_ concerned. Len is leaning against the wall behind him, stance casual, but expression twisted with the same level of concern as Mick. 

"Wells," Barry gets out, somehow. "He–he got away. Kidnapped Eddie. I can't–"

He can't find him. He can't beat Wells, couldn't even manage to trap him because he's been ten steps ahead _the entire time_. And now he has Eddie and is doing _god knows what_ to him and–

Something – Len – presses against his back and a hand covers his eyes. " _Breathe_ ," Len murmurs against his ear, his voice gentle and slow. "Stop thinking for a moment, stop worrying, just _breathe_. Slowly, normal people speeds. _There_ you go," he adds as Barry gets his breathing to match the rise and fall of the chest pressed against his back. 

Barry lets himself droop back against Len, closing his eyes since he can't see with the hand covering them anyway, and makes himself focus on his breathing and the comforting warmth of his boyfriends bracketing him. 

Len gives him a long moment, and then he says, "Hot chocolate?" 

Barry isn't certain where the laugh that huffs out of him comes from, but he's so unbelievably _grateful_ for it. "Yeah," he decides, because it's become a comfort drink, as often as Len makes it for him. "But go easy on the marshmallows." 

Len makes an insulted noise and shoves Barry forward, into Mick's waiting arms – Barry doesn't even need to open his eyes to know he's there and ready to catch him – and stalks off into the kitchen while Barry manages to unbury another laugh, and Mick chuckles into his hair. 

"Couch?" Mick asks after a moment. 

"Yeah," Barry agrees, and opens his eyes to navigate the living room, because they haven't been living there nearly long enough for him to do it blind, and Mick always complains about how he's not eating enough on the rare occasion that Barry lets him pick him up and his mouth isn't busy with more important things. 

Mick pulls Barry down to sit next to him, bodies nearly flush, leaving plenty of room for Len to take Barry's other side. And then Mick threads his fingers through Barry's hair and starts sort of...petting him. 

Barry doesn't last long before he closes his eyes and drops his head onto Mick's shoulder, letting the repetitive motion soothe away the stress of the day. And it's so nice to be able to forget that his carefully crafted world is falling apart, because, inside these walls, everything is the same as it's been since college. As stressful as it's been, at times, not being able to mix his boyfriends with the rest of his life, it's a relief, right that moment. Here, Wells is just a voice on the phone, and Eddie is just his jerk co-worker who his boyfriends occasionally whisper about punching when they think Barry can't hear them. 

The familiar scent of Swiss Miss precedes Len over to the couch, and Barry finally opens his eyes so he can look up and accept one of the mugs Len has brought out. Mick's has the fewest marshmallows of the three, while the one Len keeps for himself is almost overflowing with the little white pillows of pure sugar. Barry's mug is somewhere between them, the exact amount he adds on the rare occasion he has to make himself hot chocolate. 

When Len sits, he's as close to Barry as Mick is, and he feels a little bit more tension drain away, because he _knows_ he's safe between them. (He also knows there's at least six guns in easy reach of one of the three of them, and Barry can get to the cold and heat guns in less than two seconds. And his boyfriends have made certain he can use both of them, if he needs to; if Wells finds them, there's a weapon in easy range that can, at the very least, slow him down. And that is more security than he's had anywhere else. _God_ , he's never been so grateful that Len got that stupid gun.) 

Len waits until they've all had a few sips of their hot chocolate, then he says, voice still that gentle, calming tone, "So, you were all correct that Harrison Wells is the Man in Yellow. This...'Reverse-Flash'." 

"Yeah," Barry agrees quietly. 

"I take it you discovered as much by cornering him, and he left some bruises as he fled with Detective Douche?" 

Barry swallows, unable to dredge up his usual smile at the name Len had started using for Eddie after he'd found out about Barry being polyamorous and turned into an asshole over it. "We didn't–" He stops, has to take a long gulp of his hot chocolate. "We tried to get him to confess to Mom's murder, but it failed. It was–wasn't even him. He got Everyman – Hannibal Bates – you remember him?" 

"Yes," Len agrees, and Barry can feel Mick nodding on his other side. "Charged with multiple counts of identity theft." 

Barry nods, rubbing his thumb along the handle of his mug. "Reports say he was yanked straight through the outer wall of his cell. By the time Singh was trying to call Joe, we were watching who we thought was Wells walk into the downstairs lab. When he made like he was gonna kill Cisco, Joe shot him. And then–"

"He reverted," Mick says for him, like he knows Barry's struggling with the memories of that terrible moment, when he still thought that the last chance to save his dad was dead on the floor. 

Barry takes another long gulp of his hot chocolate to steady himself, bring him back to the security of _home_. "Wells, he, over the the intercom, he _taunted_ us, told us he–he's always one step ahead, that our lives are _better_ because of him!" That last comes out a snarl, because _how_ is his life 'better'? 

But then a warm, familiar hand settles at the back of his neck – Mick – while Len's long fingers slide along the underside of his chin, turning his head until they're facing each other. "Whether your life – and the lives of your friends – are better or worse than they might have been without his manipulations, is no more something you can determine, than he can. All you can decide is if you like the life you have _right now_."

Barry closes his eyes and tilts his head forward, so his and Len's foreheads are resting together. Is he happy? Generally, yes. He has Iris, Joe, and his dad; that mix of people who helped shape who he is and the course his life took. He has Len, Mick, and Lisa; his second family, who he knows without question will always have his back. He's got a job he loves with people who maybe think he's a little weird, but generally trust that he's competent. He's got Caitlin and Cisco in Central, Felicity, Oliver, and Digg in Star; friends who aren't afraid to do what it takes to save complete strangers because it's the right thing to do. The only person missing is Mom, but she's always been with him in spirit. 

Yeah, he's happy – stressed, angry at being manipulated, at having his life changed at the whims of someone he knows only lies about – but he's happy. Safe, curled between the two men who mean the world to him. 

Len cups his cheek and presses a brief kiss against his lips, like he knows the conclusion Barry's reached. And then Mick tugs on him lightly, and Barry turns to get a kiss from him, too, just the littlest bit more heated. 

"I suppose," he says, just the slightest bit of good humor slipping into his voice, "that I'm stuck with you two." 

"What a shame," Len replies, deadpan. 

Mick just snorts and lets go of Barry's nape to poke Len's cheek, which earns him a snarl and a snap of Len's teeth. 

The laugh is quiet and small and not nearly as much of a surprise as his first one of the evening had been. But it's just as welcome, easing away some of the darkness that's started coming back to roost on Barry's shoulders. 

(No, he wouldn't give up his boyfriends for _anything_. Not even, to his shame, his mom being alive.) 

He gives them all a moment to just _be_ – together, themselves, safe, _happy_ – and then he tells them, "He'd planted cameras, was watching us." 

Len goes stiff, his expression shutting down in a way Barry's only seen a handful of times. Mick grabs Len's shoulder – Barry can't tell if it's meant to hold Len down, keep Mick from raging, or a little bit of both – and then he says, his voice hard and on the edge of a wildfire's rage, "The racin' 'round when ya got in." 

Barry swallows and nods; it's not _him_ they're angry with, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous or terrifying. "I didn't see any videos of us three or Lisa in the recordings I saw, and Cisco hasn't mentioned any. I don't think he got the chance to plant any – I certainly didn't find any when I got home. But the precinct, Joe's house, the labs..." 

Len's been relaxing as Barry speaks, his too-still face easing into something more familiar. A little worried, but also relieved. "Given his clear disapproval of your mystery partners, not to mention our alter egos, I expect we would know if he was aware of Mick or myself. But his watching the rest of you certainly clarifies his play at omniscience. I presume the cameras have all been removed?" he says, his voice settling back into that gentle calmness. 

Barry breathes in, lets Len's calm tones and the warm weight of Mick's arm resting against his shoulders ease him back into a place where he can face the past few hours without sobbing in defeat. "Yeah. Cisco watched all the videos enough to make a note of where all the cameras are placed. All the ones at the lab are down and deactivated. Joe, Caitlin, and Cisco are gonna get the ones at their places tonight, and Joe and I'll get the ones at the precinct and Picture News tomorrow." 

"Iris' flat?" Mick asks, and Barry startles a little, because they'd all sort of forgot about that one. "Let us know when she's out 'n where it is 'n we'll get it." 

"I– Are you sure?" Barry asks, looking between them. 

Len flashes him a sharp little smile. " _Please_. Even if it _is_ a cop's place, breaking in will be _child's play_."

Barry huffs and tries not to feel too warmed at the show that his boyfriends are willing to go out of the way to keep his foster sister – whom neither of them have ever met – just that littlest bit safer. "I'll text you when I know she's out of her place," he promises. "Pretty sure the camera's hidden on the shelf next to the front door, where they hang their keys and Iris' purses. I'll take a picture of one of the ones in my lab when I get in, so you know exactly what you're looking for." 

"Good," Mick says, and lets go of Len's shoulder so he can curl his hand around the nape of Barry's neck again. "We'll worry 'bout yer sister, get sum'un to keep an eye on 'er." 

"Someone subtle," Len adds, like he knows that Barry was about to remind them that Iris is a reporter who was raised by a cop; she'll notice a tail in a heartbeat unless they're _damn_ good. "Now, you said something about Detective Douche getting grabbed?" 

Barry nods and swallows. "He was with Iris – protection, in case something went wrong. Wells, he found them, grabbed Eddie and ran. I've searched...so much of the city," he adds, exhaustion creeping into his voice; the only reason he'd come home was that he was so tired he'd started tripping on stairs again. And if he's losing focus enough to be tripping on stairs, he's going to miss something. 

He doesn't need to look between them to know Len and Mick are trading a look, having a quick conversation around him. He doesn't bother trying to figure out what they're saying – or not saying, as the case is – just swallows down the last of his hot chocolate. 

He's actually kind of unsurprised when Len takes both Barry and Mick's mugs, then gets up to put them in the kitchen while Mick stands, then _picks Barry up_ before he can stand on his own. 

" _Really_?" he complains, even as he drops his head against Mick's shoulder, because there's no point in trying to argue this. 

Len and Mick let him use the loo and brush his teeth on his own, but they don't let him undress himself – he's pretty sure both of them are trying to hide smiles by the time he's naked, as much as he's huffing at them – and Mick carries him into their bed, dropping him into the middle, even though Barry usually likes to sleep on the outside now, since the lightning made him even more of an obnoxiously restless sleeper than he was before. 

Still, it's nice being held between his boyfriends, and he closes his eyes to sleep without any more huffing. 

He wakes up twice from nightmares in the middle of the night, but they don't let him get up to walk them off, like he usually does, just rub at his hip or kiss his face and shoulders until he can settle down and go back to sleep. Which is unfamiliar, but actually kind of nice. 

He wants to be grumpy at them spoiling him, but it's been a really shitty couple of weeks, and he's tired and worn down enough to admit that he maybe needs a little bit of being spoiled. And he wishes, more than anything, that he could just stay right where he is, warm and safe between the men he loves, until everything blows over. 

-0-

He does not, of course, get to be warm and safe until Wells is handled. Instead, he gets to suffer Iris' upset when she corners him about his secret identity – "I don't know why I'm surprised at how many secrets you're hiding from me," she'd said, and that had _hurt_ , because he knew she meant Len and Mick's identities, which he'd been hiding from her as much for her safety as theirs, and he'd thought she'd understood that enough to not hold it against him; not for the first time, he wondered if he should just _introduce them_ and damn the consequences – the terror of losing Joe to a psychic gorilla and the very real concern that he won't be alive when they find him, and almost dying himself because of said gorilla. 

And then the particle accelerator is turned on and Wells manages to escape Barry _yet again_ , always moving just the littlest bit _too fast_. At least they find Eddie, but he's distant in a way that reminds Barry of those months that they'd avoided each other because Eddie didn't know how to handle knowing someone who was polyamorous. So he stays back, lets Iris handle her boyfriend, and tries not to think on it too much as she takes him home. 

That becomes a lot easier when Cisco finds the future tech Wells – Thawne, whoever – has left behind to power up the accelerator. 

"How long until it's fully functional?" Barry asks after Cisco makes it clear he has no idea how to disable the device. 

"Best I can tell," Cisco replies with a sort of helpless shrug, "thirty-six hours?" 

Barry nods. "Then that's when Wells will be back." 

And, Barry realizes while Joe's questioning _why_ Wells wants the damn thing on, that means they have thirty-six hours or so to find some sort of way to capture and hold Wells. 

Barry remembers how safe he always feels at home, now, with the cold gun close to hand. He considers how unlikely it would be, for someone who didn't know about his relationship with Len and Mick, to envision him asking the two supervillains for help. They'll agree, he knows, but Joe and Caitlin and Cisco... 

Well, he supposes the only way to find out if his two worlds can mesh, is to throw them together. And hope he's fast enough to pull everyone out of the way of any attempts at violence. 

(He has a bad feeling this isn't going to end well.) 

-0-

Len has been saying pretty much since their first trap against the Reverse-Flash failed that he'd like to know more about Barry's friends, so Barry isn't particularly surprised when his face lights up that way it does when Barry or Mick suggest he should unwrap them, when Barry finally asks the pair of them about helping out after he's had enough sleep to think and see straight. 

Mick just sort of shrugs, then says, "Lisa's in town." 

Len's delight darkens and he shoots Mick a scowl. " _No_."

"What's she gonna say when she finds out we took on this fucker without 'er?" 

Len snarls, then pulls out his mobile and stalks towards the kitchen to, Barry can only assume, ring her. 

Barry blinks at Mick a couple times, then points out, "A normal gun isn't going to stop him any more than it'd stop _me_."

Mick shrugs. "So talk t'yer builder friend." 

Barry's pretty sure his giggle comes out slightly strained. 

And then his mobile rings, unexpected enough he jumps. When he pulls it out of his pocket, he frowns to see Iris' name and retreats to the bedroom even as he answers with, "Hey, Iris. What's up?" 

_"It's Eddie,"_ she says, and she sounds like she's been angry-crying, the same way she used to do when they were kids and Joe came down on them about something stupid and minor. 

Barry closes the bedroom door and leans back against it, his heart plummeting in his chest. "What? Is he okay?" 

_"He's–"_ She lets out a frustrated noise, then blows her nose into something. _"Dammit! Wells apparently showed him some **proof** that you and I get married in the future."_

Barry chokes. "I– Wait, _what_?" That had been his teenage dream, sure: white picket fence, two kids, and a dog. But then he'd met Len and Mick, and he couldn't imagine leaving them for _anyone_. " _No_! I mean, _Christ_ , Iris, don't take this the wrong way, because you know I love you, but like a _sister_."

_" **I** know that,"_ Iris insists, _"and I **thought** Eddie knew it, too. But now he's got it in his head that the two of us are getting together and damn whatever I say!"_

Barry sighs and rubs at his face. "Okay, shit, okay. Look, do you want me to try talking to him?" 

Iris sighs herself, sounding a little less angry. _"Please? I don't know how much it'll help, but he's not listening to me."_

"Worth a shot," Barry decides. "Do you know where he is right now?" 

_"The precinct. Which, actually, where are **you**?"_ she asks, and Barry recognizes her reporter voice. 

He almost tells her a lie so she won't worry about their current crisis, but then he remembers what she'd said to him after surprising him in S.T.A.R. Labs. "I– The particle accelerator, we're thinking we've got about twenty-three hours before it comes back online and Wells shows back up. So I'm trying to recruit some help he won't expect." 

_"Oh? What sort of help?"_ Iris asks, faux casual. 

Barry can't help but glance at the door behind him. "Captain Cold and Heatwave?" 

There's a beat of silence, then, _"Bartholomew Henry Allen,"_ she breathes, delight in her voice, _"are you dating **supervillains**?"_

" _What_?!" Barry replies, and he _knows_ his voice went too high, that she'll know she's right. 

Iris laughs like she's just won the lottery. _"I **knew** the Flash had to know them personally, the way you three banter back and forth. Oh, I should have realized as soon as I found out it was you."_

Barry moans and covers his face with both his hands, keeping his mobile to his ear with his shoulder. Because now he thinks about it, he can remember her hypothesizing that him, Len, and Mick were friends in their civilian lives and all knew who each other were. He'd sort of laughed her off at the time, but of _course_ she'd put together 'Barry's dating two male criminals' and 'the Flash is super friendly with Captain Cold and Heatwave' and get 'Barry is dating Leonard Snart and Mick Rory'. Of course she would. "Please, _please_ don't tell your dad." 

_"He's gonna shit **bricks** ,"_ Iris realizes, sounding _way_ too delighted about it. 

"Iris Ann West," Barry says, because she totally started the full name usage. "Don't you _dare_."

Iris is quiet just long enough for him to seriously consider tracking her down and locking her up somewhere. But then she says, _"Oh, I think I'm going to enjoy holding a secret over **his** head this time."_

Barry moans. 

_"And you **are** letting me meet them, now."_

Barry knocks his head back against the bedroom door a couple times, as though it'll actually help anything, then he sighs and agrees, "Yeah, okay. They're both willing to help, so we'll all be at S.T.A.R. Labs tonight. Earlier, maybe, depending on necessary prep time." 

_" **Before** then, Bare,"_ Iris insists. _"I am not going to have the first time I meet your boyfriends be when Dad's holding a gun to their heads."_

That's...fair, he supposes. And then he sighs and steps out of the bedroom and down the hall to the living room, where his boyfriends are both pretending they haven't been eavesdropping on his conversation. "Lunch with Iris?" he says. 

Len blinks, a small but telling sign of his surprise, but Mick lets out a loud laugh and says, "Yeah, alright." Then he looks at Len. "Lisa comin', too?" 

"It'll be a regular afternoon television meet-and-greet," Len says, deadpan. 

Iris is giggling in Barry's ear. 

Barry just rolls his eyes. "Iris, I'll pick you up on my way back from talking some sense into your boyfriend, okay?" 

_"Good luck,"_ Iris says with a huff. Then she sighs and adds, _"Thank you. I'll be in Jitters across the street."_

"Sure. I'll see you soon." He sighs himself as he hits the end call button and shoots his boyfriends a tired look. "It was the _bantering_."

Mick starts cackling, while Len offers an unapologetic shrug and wiggles his mobile at Barry. "I'll call Lise back while you're having words with Detective Douche. Meet at Saints?" 

Saints and Sinners is one of Len and Mick's favorite pubs in Central, and happens to be about halfway between their current safehouse and the one Lisa is most likely staying in, so it'll be convenient for those of them without superspeed. Depending on what Iris got dressed in that morning, she might stand out a little, but Barry's enough of a regular that most of the people who frequent won't make much notice of someone so obviously from the nicer part of town. (Anyway, only idiots would try something against the guests of Captain Cold and Heatwave; them becoming supervillains have done an awful lot in terms of their 'don't mess with us' cred.) 

"Yeah, Saints works," Barry agrees, then goes to finish getting ready for what's promising to be another long day. When he's ready, he makes his way out of the flat and over a few blocks at a normal speed, before flashing into the city proper; avoiding flashing in and out of their safehouses is just being smart. Doubly so once people started to recognize what his trail of lightning means. 

Eddie is just stepping through the doors into the bullpen when Barry steps out of the lift, and Barry doesn't bother with subtle, just snaps, "Eddie Thawne, you are an _idiot_."

Eddie isn't the only one to turn to look at him, but he _is_ the only one who looks even vaguely concerned by the scowl Barry's wearing. One of the officers standing within range even reaches over and claps him on the shoulder. "Thought you knew better than to fuck up one of the lab rats' samples," he says with a laugh. 

Eddie doesn't laugh in return, but he does appear to rally himself, and he steps towards Barry, closing the distance to no more than two feet between them, so the whole precinct doesn't hear him when he says, tone flat and unimpressed, "I should have known Iris would send you. She couldn't convince me of the truth, so she sent–"

"Her _brother_?" Barry suggests in as cold a tone as he can manage. "I _have_ someone, Eddie, _which you know_. And I can't imagine either of us are going to do something that's so much worse than the shit we've put each other through in the past seven years, that our only option is to break up." 

Eddie reels back, his eyes widening with shock. "Seven _years_?" he breathes. Because Barry has certainly never clarified how long he's been with Mick and Len, and Iris apparently hasn't either. 

Barry smiles, then, not making any effort to make it particularly nice. "Consider, for one minute, that the man you're getting your information from _purposefully_ built a particle accelerator that would explode and kill _seventeen people_ , _after_ he killed a man so he could take his place and lie to _all of us_ for _months_. For _years_ , if we're counting how long Caitlin and Cisco have known him. And he has knowledge of and access to future technology that even _Cisco_ won't dare touch." He steps forward, getting directly in Eddie's face, and whispers, "I don't know about you, but I am _not_ playing by his rules any more." 

Eddie retreats a step, looking shaken. "That's easy for you to say. But you–" And then he stops, like he's maybe rethinking whatever he was about to say. 

Barry gives him a moment to reword whatever it is, but when Eddie stays silent, he shrugs. "I'm taking Iris to lunch, then we're heading to the lab," he says, before turning away and heading back towards the lift. 

Eddie doesn't make any move to stop him, and since it's Barry's scheduled day off – thank you, Wells, for at least planning around his work schedule – no one can yell at him about the backlog waiting in his lab, so he makes it across the street to Jitters without any further drama. 

Iris is seated at one of the tables near the front, playing with an empty pastry bag and looking strained. When she sees him, though, her face lights up and she gets up to hug him. "So?" she asks, and there's so much _hope_ in her voice. 

Barry sighs and shrugs. "I said my piece. What he does now is up to him." 

She closes her eyes and nods, an air of resignation about her. 

Barry swallows and offers, "I told him we'd be at the labs after lunch, so maybe he'll show up there and you'll have to save him from Joe?" 

That wins him a smile, which widens a bit as she says, "Oh, I'm not the _only_ one who's going to be protecting her boyfriend from Dad." 

"I love how you assume I'm going to be introducing them as anything other than the help," Barry mutters, tugging on her arm so she'll follow him out of the coffee shop. 

"Oh, like he won't try to shoot them anyway," Iris replies, sounding way too delighted. Then again, it's pretty common knowledge that the Flash can catch bullets, so Barry expects she's envisioning a dramatic little moment where Joe fires and Barry catches the bullets inches in front of Len and Mick's faces. Which, as terrifying as the constant fear that he'll be too slow at some point is, is a very likely scenario. 

Great. Now he gets to spend lunch thinking about that. Thanks, Iris. 

"So," Iris says as Barry leads her into one of the alleys he regularly flashes into and out of in the area, "where are we eating? Your flat?" 

Barry rolls his eyes. "A pub we frequent. And Len's sister, Lisa, is meeting us there. I'm gonna pick you up, okay?" 

"Okay!" Iris chirps, looking like she's having the time of her life. 

(Considering she's discovered, over the course of the past two weeks, both his secret identity as the Flash _and_ the identities of his mystery boyfriends, she probably is.) 

Barry flashes them into one of the abandoned office buildings a couple blocks over from Saints and Sinners, one which is a regular hovel for the homeless and transients, but is large enough that Barry never has trouble finding an empty room to return to normal speed in. When Iris starts looking around with a confused frown, he explains, "I have a handful of abandoned buildings I speed in and out of down here, so people are less likely to attach the Flash to Barry Allen." 

"I suppose that makes sense," Iris admits as she follows him out of the office and down the cracked and pitted staircase to the rubbish-strewn lobby. "Especially on this side of town." 

Barry nods and grimly says, "We're right on the edge of mob territory, yeah; some places, even the Flash avoids." 

Iris tugs her purse against her chest and steps a little closer to him. "Is that _safe_? I mean, for you living over here?" 

Barry shrugs, doing his best to act casual, because he doesn't want to spook her with the truth, which is that most of the times they move safehouses, it has something to do with Len or Mick pissing off one of the mob families. "No one's gonna chance taking on Captain Cold and Heatwave," he points out, "and it's common knowledge I'm both friendly with them and process crime scenes for the police, so most people leave me alone, any more." 

"Well that's...something." 

Barry shrugs again and wraps an arm around her shoulders, because she looks a little spooked. (Which, too be fair, he's spent a lot of time being spooked in this part of Central, because Len and Mick haven't always been quite so dangerous to piss off, and he hasn't always had the protection of his being a member of the CCPD.) 

Saints and Sinners is as much of a dump on the outside as ever, and Iris shoots it an uncertain look that makes Barry grin. (If only because he'd had a similar reaction the first time Mick dragged him to it.) The inside, though, is both dim and clean, with just enough of a crowd to make it clear that the place is a favorite lunch stop for those working nearby. 

"Hey, B-Kid!" one of the regulars, Matty, calls to Barry while his eyes are still adjusting to the change in light levels. "You got five?" 

Barry lets out a huff that's maybe a little too fond. Matty is the unofficial landlord of a couple of the abandoned buildings nearby and is constantly asking Barry for hints on how best to clean up new and often disturbing messes left by those who squatted there. At least half of them probably should have involved the police, but the handful of times Barry had tried to make a case, he was ignored. Mostly because there aren't that many cops who are both willing to run an investigation so close to mob territory and give a damn about the homeless and transients. "Not today, Matty," he calls back, nodding towards where he can see Len, Mick, and Lisa waiting for them in their usual booth near the back. "Try bleach." 

"Already did," Matty complains, and Barry shrugs at him as he leads Iris through the crowd around the billiards table, where Rebecca, Janice, and Kim are facing off to decide who'll be paying for lunch that day. (More often than not, one of the guys watching them play pays, though only because all three of them are scary-good pickpockets who have no shame in baring a little skin as a distraction.) 

As they reach the table, Barry sees that Len and Mick both found time to change into clothing that is a bit more dressy than they usually wear to the pub, but still casual enough that people can pretend they don't know they're supervillains. Neither are wearing their specialized guns, but Barry's familiar enough with the lines of their bodies to tell that Len's carrying at least one gun, while Mick's got at least two. Lisa is, of course, her usual sparkling self in designer clothing she probably stole and enough gold and diamonds to put a rich man's trophy wife to shame. Barry knows her well enough to assume she's got a gun in both her purse and hidden under her tight jacket, and she's probably got pepper spray in one of her pockets, just to spray in the faces of guys catcalling her on the street. 

"Hey, cutie-bean!" Lisa calls to him with a wide, mean smile, and Iris chokes out a laugh at the nickname Lisa had started using for him the first time she heard Mick complaining about Barry being beanpole-thin. 

Barry snorts and leans over the table to kiss her cheek. "Hi, Lise. New earrings?" 

Lisa reaches up and touches one of the earrings, which have a gold setting with a trinity of miniature diamonds at the ear and a golden beryl drop dangling below. Barry only knows what the pretty golden gem is because he'd seen the list of missing items the jewelry shop Captain Cold and Heatwave had hit last week turned in. He resists glancing at his boyfriends, mostly because he's become used to seeing the items he knows they've stolen on people they know. (Usually on Lisa, of course, but they sometimes use them to pay for amenities or favors, when they don't have the necessary funds in cash, and he knows of two separate occasions when they'd given something pretty to someone who looked like they were in desperate need of something to cheer them up.) 

"Isn't that–?" Iris starts, probably having seen the same list, before she clears her throat and says, "They're very pretty." 

Lisa's grin would make a shark proud. "Aren't they? Lenny got them for me." 

Iris mutters something that sounds like, "I'll bet." 

Barry shakes his head and motions to her. "Iris West, my sister. Iris, this is Len Snart and Mick Rory, my boyfriends, and Lisa Snart, Len's sister." 

"Charmed, Miss West," Len says with his easy charm and slightly cool smile, holding out a hand towards her. 

Iris takes it and doesn't seem particularly surprised when Len pulls it forward to kiss the back. Barry just looks at Mick and rolls his eyes, which wins him a quick, amused smile. "I'm sure you are," Iris tells Len, "but if you try to pull a Robin Hood with my class ring, I'll Mace you." 

Lisa's laugh is delighted, while Len's smile takes on a distinctly sharp edge. "I _like_ you," Lisa announces, patting the empty bench next to her. "Sit, come on." 

Barry waves for her to do so before stepping away to collect an unused chair from the nearest table and pulling it over to sit in at the end of the table. When Mick raises an eyebrow at him – a silent offer to switch – Barry shakes his head, because he's comfortable enough in Saints and Sinners to turn his back on the room. Anyway, he'd rather have the extra room to react if something happens. 

"So," Lisa says, "you're the mysterious sister who talks Barry into misbehaving just to piss off dad." 

Iris shoots Barry an unimpressed look and he does his best to look innocent as he points out, "You _were_ the one who told me to come back and sleep with Len and Mick." 

"I was _seventeen_ ," Iris reminds him. "And Dad was being unreasonable." 

"Sounds like an average Thursday," Len says with a thin, sharp little smile. 

Iris opens her mouth, looking a little incensed, then pauses and glances at Barry before deflating. "You might have a point," she allows. 

Len's smile twists into a victorious smirk. 

They're saved from whatever response he's formed by the arrival of Mindy, who plays waitress during the lunch rush. (She's also a black belt in judo, and Barry has seen her break the wrists of eight patrons who got a little handsy with her since she joined the staff a couple of months before his coma. By the stories he's heard from other patrons, she breaks, on average, one wrist every nine days, though it was a lot more common in her first three months.) They give her their orders and she leaves them with a promise of getting their drinks right away. 

"I do have to wonder," Lisa says once Mindy's delivered their drinks and gone to answer someone else flagging her down, "how many people have realized you three are shameless flirts in costume." She looks pointedly between Len, Mick, and Barry. 

Barry feels himself flush, because, okay, he knows that's a problem, but it's so hard _not_ to respond when Len turns that particular smirk on him. (At least Cisco and Caitlin haven't seemed to have cottoned on, yet? And Iris just thought they were friendly, not sleeping together.) 

Mick doesn't react to the comment, beyond a grunt of recognition, but Len smirks at Lisa and says, "If you're so jealous, you should just find your own pretty superhero to taunt over gems." 

Lisa turns wide eyes on Barry and says, "You've seen under that hood; how pretty is the Arrow?" 

Barry chokes and shakes his head, waving a hand at her in a motion he hopes she understands to mean 'abort'. "Trust me, Lise, the Arrow isn't going to stand back and let you steal gems while you flirt." 

"Wait, so he's not dead?" Iris asks, frowning at Barry. 

Barry clears his throat and grimaces a bit at the reminder of everything happening in Starling. He doesn't have the full story, but between his own knowledge of Oliver's team, the news, and what Felicity had sobbed to him the last time they'd spoken on the phone, it isn't a good one. "He's not," he says, and his voice comes out sounding a little strange to his own ears. 

A warm hand settles over his knee and he offers Mick a smile that feels strained; they've known he's friends with Team Arrow since his return from Starling before his coma, and while he's already filled them in about recent events in Starling, he's also been trying to respect Oliver's secret identity. (Though he's about ninety percent certain that both of his boyfriends have known who the Arrow is since well before Captain Lance's crusade to get Oliver behind bars, and Roy's little blame transfer act isn't fooling either of them.) 

Iris looks like she wants to drag more out of him, but she takes a sip of her water instead, then glances between Len and Mick. "So, how likely am I to get an exclusive with Captain Cold and Heatwave?" 

Mick turns his best dumb muscle glare on her, which doesn't faze her – Barry hadn't expected it to, but he also knows that Mick's act is intended more for the others in the pub – while Len says, "I'm afraid Mick doesn't do interviews, but I'd be _delighted_ to answer a few questions from my favorite reporter." 

Barry groans and rubs at his face, while Lisa lets out an inelegant snort into her drink. 

Iris, though, meets Len's charming smirk with a smile with teeth. "Flattery will get you _everywhere_ , Captain." 

Barry regrets _everything_.

" _Well_ then," Len says on a purr. Then he flinches and shoots Mick a pathetic look that tells Barry, at least, that he just got pinched. Which he _absolutely_ deserves. 

"Oh, is there a rule, now, about _not_ flirting with your lover's sister?" Lisa asks cheerfully. 

"There is _now_ ," Barry says, raising both eyebrows at Len. 

Len raises one eyebrow back at him. But he doesn't argue, which means he's going to stop acting so coolly charming towards Iris, and Barry's willing to take that win without crowing about it. 

Iris' questions get them through the first half of lunch, and Barry filling Lisa – and Iris, a bit – in about Wells and the coming fight gets them through the rest of it. 

"We'll meet you at S.T.A.R. Labs," Len says once they've left Saints and Sinners and walked over to the cluster of three motorcycles Barry knows belong to Lisa, Mick, and Len. "Barry, make sure you do one last run through the building for any new cameras Wells might have planted." 

"Oh god," Iris whispers, looking ill. 

Barry, though, is unsurprised about the order and has been doing occasional checks around the precinct, S.T.A.R. Labs, and their safehouse since they'd found out about the first batch. Given where Wells was hiding, one last check through S.T.A.R. Labs before Len, Mick, and Lisa show up is a smart choice. "As soon as I drop Iris in the cortex. I assume you pulled up and studied the S.T.A.R. Labs blueprints at some point?" 

Len flashes him Captain Cold's familiar superior smirk. "Who do you think I am?" 

"An asshole." 

Mick guffaws at that, then reaches out and catches Barry by the nape of his neck, using that hold to pull him into a hard kiss, which Barry doesn't even _think_ about refusing. When he pulls back, Mick murmurs, "Ya got us watchin' yer back this time, 'n we ain't gonna let 'im _touch_ ya." 

Barry can't help a resigned smile at that. "Don't make promises you can't keep," he suggests, because Wells is _fast_ , so much faster than Barry, and there's no way Mick or Len can react fast enough to keep him off Barry. 

Mick's eyes narrow and light with something dangerous. "I'm _not_ ," he says, murderous intent in every syllable. 

Barry tries very hard to pretend he's not getting uncomfortably turned on; he's pretty sure that, if there was a superhero handbook, not getting turned on by someone looking like they're going to kill someone else would be one of the first chapters. 

And then Len is stepping up next to them, long fingers sliding around Barry's back to curl against his hip on the other side. "If you're going to start fucking, best find a room," he says, his voice low and full of promise. 

Barry doesn't whimper, but it's a near thing. 

Mick grunts and nips at Barry's mouth, then steps back, leaving plenty of room for Len to crowd in close and turn Barry's head so he can kiss him – quite literally – breathless. And then, taking advantage of Barry needing to catch his breath, says, "I'm going to _enjoy_ ordering you around, Flash." 

"I'm gonna let Joe shoot you," Barry gasps out, and Len laughs into the kiss Barry presses against his mouth, because he knows Barry far too well to believe he'd let Joe hurt him. 

And then Len's stepping away, warning, "Twenty-three minutes, Barry," and Barry blinks a few times, a little surprised to realize he's already wearing his ridiculous parka, his gun strapped securely to his thigh and his googles hanging around his neck. Mick is almost finished putting on the last of his costume, while Lisa is sitting on her bike and very obviously ignoring them, because while she's delighted Len's got two people who love him as much as Barry and Mick do, she has also made it clear that she's not going to play voyeur to their make out sessions. (Which Barry appreciates. Truly.) 

Iris is a little less well-behaved, wearing a wicked smile that Barry saw far too much of before his accelerated healing meant any marks Mick or Len leave on him don't last long enough for him to make it to S.T.A.R. Labs or the area around the precinct. 

Barry coughs and motions for her to walk with him back towards the abandoned building they'd sped into earlier, fairly certain he's turned the color of a tomato. 

Iris kindly waits until the roar of motorcycle engines signal the three criminals hitting the road before she says, "Tell me you've had sex in costume." 

" _Iris_!" Barry complains. 

"You _have_!" she says, clearly delighted. 

"I'm disowning you." 

Iris just laughs at him and kisses his cheek, then skips ahead to get the door of the building. 

Once they've found an empty room, as Barry's moving to pick her up, she presses a stilling hand on his chest and catches his eyes. "They really love you," she says, quiet and serious. 

Barry swallows and nods, because neither of them say the words very often, but he knows they do. Can read it in the way their expressions soften just the slightest bit when they see him safe, in how they'll step outside their own comfort zones when he desperately needs someone to hold him while he cries, in the way they never stop trying to find ways to keep him safe, even though he's so much more durable than them, now. 

Iris smiles, then, and pulls him into a tight hug, which Barry is all too happy to return. "I'm glad," she whispers against his shoulder. 

"Thank you," Barry whispers back, because he doesn't say it nearly enough, even though she's been right there, supporting him since the very beginning. 

When she pulls back, her smile's turned a little wet, and she quickly wipes at her cheeks, then straightens and puts on a confident look. "Right. Let's go stop the Reverse-Flash." 

" _Let's_ ," Barry agrees, and picks her up and runs out of the building.

.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the thanks to StillNotGinger10, who gave this chapter and the next a look-over and caught a couple of bungles. :)

Eddie is in the cortex with Joe, Cisco, and Caitlin when they arrive. He looks strained, which doesn't change when Barry lightly sets Iris on her feet and steadies her, but he's _there_ , which was really all that Barry had asked of him. "I'll be back," Barry says to Iris, then sets off at a run, checking for any sign of cameras or microphones in the building. 

He gets back to the cortex in time to watch Iris and Eddie hug, clearly having settled things. And then Eddie pulls away a step, pulls out a box that has Barry's eyes widening in recognition and Iris gasping, then goes down on one knee. "Iris West," Eddie says, just a hint of nerves in his voice, "will you marry me?" 

"Yes!" Iris says, and doesn't even let him fumble the ring out of the box before she drops to her knees and kisses him. 

Barry grins and lets out a loud whistle, just to get a bright, slightly annoyed grin from Iris, which gives Eddie the chance he needs to get the ring out and on her hand. 

Caitlin and Cisco step forward to congratulate them both, and Barry looks towards Joe, who is standing against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. 

He flashes across the room and pushes his finger against Joe's chest, a part of him _delighted_ at the way he flinches back. "You are _not_ doing this to her, Joe," he hisses, hopefully quiet enough that the other four don't hear. "You've been trying to break them up since you found out and you've _failed_. For _once_ in our lives, at least _pretend_ you're happy one of us has someone we love as much as they love us." 

Joe flinches again, his expression darkening. "You _know_ that's not–"

"I don't care what your issue with Eddie and Iris' relationship is," Barry says flatly, as unimpressed now as he'd been when Joe had flatly refused to give his approval weeks ago. Except, now, he had the reminder of Iris' happiness for his relationship warming his chest, and memories of watching her slowly crumple as they struggled to find even a _hint_ of where Wells had taken Eddie; he isn't going to let Joe ruin this for her any more. "You need to be her _dad_ right now. _And that means being happy for her_."

Joe glares at him for a moment, stubborn in his disapproval. But then he looks past Barry, towards where Iris is laughing with Eddie and Caitlin at something Cisco said, and he just sort of...droops. 

Barry steps out of the way and motions with his head, is a little surprised when Joe squares his shoulders and goes without any further arguing. 

"Congratulations, baby," Joe says when he reaches the group. "Eddie." 

"Thank you, Dad!" Iris calls, stepping forward and hugging him. 

Eddie looks over at Barry, his eyes a little wide, and mouths, 'Thank you'. 

Barry smiles and shrugs; he hadn't really won Joe over, but at least he should let off being a miser about it for today. 

Which, actually... Barry glances at the time and winces, then steps forward and says, "Not to rain on the celebration, but I may have found some help for facing Wells." 

Iris checks the time, too, then shoots a vaguely concerned look towards the so far empty entryway of the cortex. 

"It's not the Arrow, is it?" Joe guesses, even as Eddie starts looking between Iris, Barry, and the entryway of the cortex with concern. 

The concern comes to fruition when Len, who has clearly been waiting for the _perfect_ opening, because he's _ridiculous_ , says, "I'm afraid it's someone even less palatable, Detective," as he steps into the entryway and _poses_ , chin up and gun pointing towards the ceiling, the butt resting against his shoulder. 

(Barry loves an idiot. God save him.) 

Joe immediately goes for his gun, and Barry and Iris both reach out and grab his hands to keep him from aiming at Len, shouting, "Joe/Dad, no!" 

"I asked them to come!" Barry adds. "We need their help!" 

Joe's eyes are wide and angry as he turns to Barry and demands, " ' _Them_ '?" 

Mick and Lisa step out then, stopping on either side of Len. Neither of them have weapons in their hands, thankfully, though Mick is wearing one of his more murderous glares, and Lisa's smile is sharp enough to kill. 

"Oh, _hell_ no," Joe says, even as Iris manages to get his gun from him and steps away. 

Barry throws his best ' _goddammit_ , Len' look at his boyfriend. Judging by Mick's brief eyeroll, he'd tried to stop him from being so dramatic. Sadly, controlling Len's dramatic tendencies worked a lot better _before_ he became a supervillain. 

"That's _my gun_ ," Cisco says, pointing at the cold gun on Len's shoulder. 

"Finders keepers, _Cisco_ ," Len returns. 

Cisco flinches, then turns a betrayed look on Barry. "He _knows my name_."

"Of _course_ he does, cutie," Lisa says with a hint of a purr as she steps further into the room, and Cisco gets a confused sort of besotted look as he turns towards her. "Lenny has to know who to kidnap if something goes wrong with his gun." 

" _What_?!" Caitlin and Cisco chorus, both of them taking a step back from the three criminals. 

Barry turns his best unimpressed look on Lisa. "Cold isn't kidnapping _anyone_ ," he says flatly. 

"Pity," Lisa replies, because she has no shame. "I'd love to get your cute little engineer in a room alone." 

There's a moment of silence, where Lisa smiles beatifically at Cisco, Cisco looks like a trapped rat, and everyone else just sort of stares at one of the two in disbelief. (Except for Len, who looks tortured, and Mick, who looks bored.) 

And then Barry covers his face with his hands and says, "Lisa, _please_." Because he honestly can't tell if she's flirting with Cisco to be difficult, or flirting because she actually _likes him_. (The only thing he knows for certain is that she isn't working on some sort of con, because there's nothing she'll get out of one.) 

"Time and place, sis," Len agrees, striding into the room himself and stopping right in front of Barry, so close he can smell the cool scent of the breath mints he always eats when in costume. "As promised, _Flash_ ," he says with a taunting little smirk. "I do hope you intend to hold up _your_ end of the bargain." 

Barry blinks, thrown for a brief moment. But then he remembers Len's earlier comment and sighs. "Yeah," he says and takes a step back to give himself space to turn around, look over the rest of his team and friends, all of whom have taken a couple of steps back, leaving Barry between them and the three criminals. "Look," he tells them, "Wells has been here, watching and working with us for _months_." Cisco and Caitlin both look away, shoulders rounding forward with shame, while Joe and Eddie put on similar scowls. "He knows how we think, how we react, how we'd plan to face him down when he gets back here." 

"Then we be smarter, do something we normally _wouldn't_ ," Joe says with a bite to the words. 

Barry inclines his head. "Yeah. Which is why Captain Cold will be making the plan." 

The outcry of refusal is pretty much immediate, and utterly predictable. Barry shoots Iris a tired look and she offers him a helpless smile in return, then holds up Joe's gun, which she still has. Barry snorts and shakes his head, because as amusing as it would be to fire it to shut them up, that sounds like a bad idea. 

Len, of course, seems to have a similar train of thought – or else sees the interaction and decides to go with it when Iris doesn't – because he powers up the cold gun behind Barry, close enough he can feel the chill of it down his spine. 

Barry trusts Len enough that he doesn't startle at the sound, but Cisco, Caitlin, and Joe, all of whom have heard the noise before (through the comms, at the least), stiffen and turn hostile looks at Len, Joe reaching automatically for his gun, and settling for just the glare when he finds an empty holster, rather than trying to look around for Iris and his weapon. 

"The way it was explained to me," Len says with a hint of his Captain Cold drawl, "your opponent, Dr Harrison Wells – or Eobard Thawne, if you prefer – is both from the future and a speedster, just like Flash, which makes him a difficult man to outthink, especially given he knows all of you _so well_. Which means, if you intend to defeat him, you'll need to pull from a source he'll never expect of you, which would be _me_." Barry can _hear_ the overconfident smirk in his voice when he adds, "The only one here with a weapon that can slow him down." 

"Yeah, we've all seen how effective the gun is against Ba– the Flash," Cisco says with an angry glower. "You're lucky to get away, most of the time." 

Something about Len's expression must change, because all of them flinch back a bit, even Iris. When he speaks, it's not with Captain Cold's cheerfully mocking tone, but the jagged edge of the murderer who would snap the neck of anyone who dares to touch the small handful of people that are _his_. "If I wanted to kill the Flash, trust me, _he would be dead_."

"Guys," Barry says in as gentle a voice as he can manage, "please trust me: We need them." 

Cisco and Caitlin trade uncertain looks, then step forward together. "What do you need us to do?" Caitlin asks, her head held high. 

The familiar hum of the cold gun shuts off behind Barry. "This gun. We need at least two more, and if you can make some sort of cold bomb or land mine?" 

Cisco's eyes go distant as he starts making calculations. "Yeah, I should be able to figure out something." 

"Who're the other guns for?" Joe demands, a tense anger to his voice. Like he's realized he can't stop this from happening, but _damned_ if he's going to go along with it peacefully. 

"Why, you and Detective Thawne," Len says, no doubt wearing one of his more patronizing smirks. "Unless you think you'll have trouble aiming and firing it? I assure you that it works similarly to your service weapon, just a little larger, and with less kick-back." 

Before Joe can figure out how to respond to that, Iris says, "Cisco, make three guns." 

"Iris, _no_ ," Barry says a beat before Joe and Eddie. 

"I am not going to stand back and watch while you trade blows with him!" Iris shouts, glaring between the three of them. "I refuse to be the damsel in distress watching from the sidelines!" 

"Iris, come on–" Eddie starts. 

"Oh, Detective Pretty," Lisa sing-songs, the click of her heels warning Barry she's moving forward before he sees her. She stops at Iris' side, smiling her most poisonous smile, and Barry, at least, realizes they're not going to win this argument. "You can't just put a sparkling rock on a girl's finger and then assume she'll turn into the dutiful wife, always waiting for you at home. Unless you've decided that 'for better or worse' and 'until death do us part' is a little too terrifying for you." 

Eddie goes pale and still at the mention of death, and Barry suspects he's envisioning all the ways Iris could get killed against Wells; god knows _Barry_ is. 

"Congratulations, by the way, sweetie," Lisa says to Iris, her smile slipping into something fonder, because she and Iris had been fast friends over lunch, both being apparently long-suffering sisters with idiots for brothers. 

Iris smiles back and holds out her hand to show the ring off, because there's no question that Lisa's going to want to get a look at it. "Thanks, Lise. Isn't it _gorgeous_?"

Lisa considers it for a moment, then looks at Iris, tilts her head to the side, and decides, "It suits you." Which means it's not shiny or gold enough for Lisa's expensive tastes, but she approves of it for Iris, who Barry knows prefers much less flashy jewelry. 

Barry catches Eddie staring at him with wide eyes and opens his mouth to ask what's wrong – well, other than Lisa and Iris connecting over a love of her new ring – but then Joe bursts into his enraged dad routine: "Absolutely _not_! You are a _civilian_ and will stay out of the fighting, or I'll knock you–"

"Joe!" Eddie shouts, clearly angry about the threat of violence to enforce compliance. Which, honestly, Barry's not too pleased about it, either, but he knows Joe won't go through with it, would never actually hit either of them. 

Lisa, though, doesn't know that, and she doesn't bother with words to shut Joe up, is already stepping between Joe and Iris, one hand slipping under her jacket, rage twisting her pretty face into something _terrifying_.

Barry's moving before he thinks better of it, putting himself in the middle of the brewing conflict and throwing his arms wide, blocking Lisa from shooting Joe with the gun she's in the process of revealing. "Lisa, _no_!"

She blinks, the rage fading away to confusion, like she'd forgotten, for a minute, where she is. 

"Lise?" Barry says, keeping his voice quiet and gentle, while waving Iris away when he spots her reaching for the arm with the gun. "Do you know who I am?" 

She blinks again, the confusion vanishing behind the same blank mask Len pulls on when he needs to hide. "Of course I know who you are," she snaps. 

Barry steps forward and covers the hand holding the gun with both of his. "Iris," he says, still keeping his voice gentle, "why don't you show Lise around the labs." 

"Sure," Iris agrees, stepping around Lisa and offering her a smile that looks a little shaky. "We can try to find all of Cisco's sweets stashes." 

"Oh?" Lisa says, a hint of interest in her voice, even though her blank expression doesn't twitch. 

"I have it on relatively good authority that there's a box of chocolates somewhere on this floor." 

" _That_ ," Lisa says, sounding a little more like herself, "sounds like a challenge." 

When Lisa steps away, following Iris, she doesn't fight Barry for the gun, just lets it go, and he frowns at that as he checks that the safety is on, then shoves it in the back of his trousers, where he's unlikely to forget about it before he can return it to her. 

Then he turns to Joe, who looks shaken, and quietly asks, "You know their history?" 

Joe nods; he'd suggested he knew something about Lewis back when Len first showed back up in Central City. 

Barry nods himself, then straightens and says, in as flat a voice as he can manage, "Yelling has never _once_ kept _either_ of us from doing whatever we want. If you want to be afraid and overprotective, _fine_. I don't like it _either_. But Iris is a grown woman, Joe, and just like she's going to marry Eddie, no matter your thoughts on the matter, she's going to get involved in this fight. At least if she's got a cold gun she'll be able to defend herself." 

"Wells is _dangerous_ ," Joe hisses, anger and fear shining in his eyes. 

"Yeah, I know," Barry replies flatly. "I've known that longer than you've believed he was real." Joe looks away and Barry gives himself a point for that win. "I'd rather she's able to protect herself, than trust she'll stay out of things. Or do you _really_ think Wells won't go after one of the people I'll do anything to keep safe?" 

Joe's jaw clenches and he doesn't try to respond to that. Which doesn't mean Barry's won, not really, but at least he can trust Joe's going to think things through for a bit, rather than going straight for the yelling. 

When he turns his focus to the rest of the room, he finds that Len, Cisco, and Caitlin have all vanished – that explains why Len didn't step in when Lisa freaked out – and Mick is standing silent guardian in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest and scowl a weird sort of comfort. 

As much as Barry wants to go and stand with Mick until he regains his equilibrium – fighting with Joe is never fun, and it always reminds him, just a little bit, of the fight seven years ago that had sent Barry to Mick and Len's door in tears – he can't, because Eddie is still watching him a little strangely. Like he's maybe putting a puzzle together in his head. 

Barry motions for Eddie to follow him, then leads the way into the med bay, where he'll be able to keep an eye on both Joe and Mick while they talk. "What is it?" he asks, keeping his voice down because otherwise it'll carry. 

Eddie swallows and looks towards Mick for a second, then turns back to Barry and, also keeping his voice down, says, "Lenny and Micky; Leonard Snart and Mick Rory." 

Barry stiffens, feels like everything around him has frozen in a completely different way from when the speed force takes over. Iris figuring it out is one thing, she'll never tell anyone about it, but _Eddie_? He's a _cop_ , Joe's partner, and he'll be duty-bound to report Barry, to tell Singh and Joe and–

" _Bare_ ," Eddie says, his hands hovering over Barry's shoulders like he wants to touch him, but is afraid of his reaction. "I'm not going to tell anyone." 

Barry gasps out the breath he hadn't even realized he was holding. He looks past Eddie, towards Mick, who's watching them with eyes far too sharp for the dumb muscle he likes to play, tense in a way that Barry knows means he's fully prepared to come rushing to Barry's aid. And that...that helps to resettle his equilibrium, lets him ease back into breathing without hyperventilating. 

He makes a quick shake of his head for Mick, then refocuses on Eddie, who looks concerned and not at all like he's trying to find ways to use his new knowledge against Barry. Which is...well. When Barry stops to think about it, Eddie's never used any of the secrets he's learnt against him. He'd never spread it around the precinct that Barry was in a polyamorous relationship, had very carefully not outted him when he'd made his apology, and he'd never made any pointed hints about knowing who the Flash was once they'd told him. 

Of all the people in his life, really, Eddie's probably the most likely to take this secret to the grave. 

"Yeah," he says, and the word comes out sounding a bit like a croak. "Wh–what gave it away?" Because if Eddie had figured it out, one of the others might have. Which wasn't to say that Eddie was _dumb_ – he was a _damn good_ detective – but Caitlin and Cisco both had genius-level intellect, and Joe was also a detective. 

Eddie withdraws his hands, shoving them into his pockets. "Lisa Snart and Iris being friends." 

Oh. 

"Recent development," he admits, if only to explain why the two of them aren't being careful with their familiarity the same way Barry's been trying to do with all three of the criminals. Hopefully Joe's too stuck on Iris wanting to get involved in the fight to think about their friendship. That, or he just goes straight to thinking that was some variation on Iris trying to piss him off by making friendly with a criminal. 

Eddie clears his throat and nods, then adds, "Also, Lisa called Sn– her brother 'Lenny'." 

Right, Eddie would have heard the nickname Barry uses for Len around his family at the Christmas party. And, unlike Joe and Iris, he hasn't been hearing it for years, developing some sort of mental image of one of Barry's mysterious boyfriends, which the real Len may or may not fit into. Which doesn't mean Joe won't catch on eventually, but letting the two sides of his life interact like this will always have that danger. 

Barry hopes he can survive another row with Joe over his boyfriends. Having Iris and Eddie in his corner is making it a lot easier to believe he will. 

Well, he _thinks_ he has Eddie in his corner. He clears his throat and makes himself ask, "What now?" Because Eddie might not intend to _tell_ anyone, but–

Eddie moves at a speed that would be too fast for a normal person to react to, but Barry has more than enough time to recognize it as a hug. He hesitantly returns it after a moment, because it's not really an answer, but it's also not the judgmental silence and yawning distance that had marked the period after Christmas. "Thank you for not letting them kill me after Christmas," Eddie says once Barry's hugged him back. 

The giggle that escapes Barry is maybe a little manic, but given that he _had_ been forced to talk Len and Mick back a couple of times – that Eddie had never made it to one of their heists before they'd already made their getaway really was for the best – he's pretty sure he'll be excused. "I apologize, in advance, for what Len'll probably start calling you once he figures out you know," he offers, because while he'd got Len to promise not to drop any 'Detective Douche's on account of it making everyone wonder what he has against Eddie, specifically, he can't do a whole lot to keep Len from doing it when he knows his victim is aware of _why_ he's slinging insults. 

Eddie's grimacing as he pulls back from the hug, but he doesn't complain about the warning of abuse. (Then again, given the men involved, better to suffer a mean-spirited nickname than end up dead or hospitalized.) But then he sighs and says, "Give me a bit to get my head around it, okay?" 

"Sure," Barry says, because Eddie's reaction is still leagues away from what he'd been expecting, especially after the debacle following Christmas. "Can you stick with Joe? Make sure he doesn't do something stupid?" 

Eddie winces and glances at where Joe still looks a lot angry, but also a little like he's trying to think things through. "I'm sort of with him," he points out. 

Barry grimaces. "Yeah. But, well..." He shakes his head. "Trust me, we might have had a chance of convincing her to sit this one out, but now she's got Lisa backing her up? Not happening. If Cisco honestly can't manage to put together three guns before Wells shows up, she might at least hang back in the cortex, but if she finds out we delayed him somehow..." 

Eddie sighs and nods. "Let her have her way and just plan to watch her back," he decides, though his expression makes it clear he's not enjoying the idea. 

Barry nods. "Pretty much. I'll see if Len can put her somewhere she won't be in too much danger?" 

Eddie takes a deep breath and nods. "Okay. That might... Let me try that on Joe, see if he'll back down. You go talk to Snart. Leonard. Len?" 

Barry can't stop a laugh and he lightly pats Eddie's shoulder. "Not Leonard," he suggests, because Len hates his full name almost as much as the nickname his father uses for him. (Leo; which Barry only knows because he'd heard someone use it for him once, a couple years ago, and he'd made Len explain why Mick had held him back while telling the guy to piss off.) "Good luck with Joe," he adds, and Eddie's grimace follows him from the med bay. 

He's not really surprised when Mick follows him from the cortex. Neither of them speak as Barry leads the way through the curved corridor. When he reaches one of the storerooms that aren't in use, so are left locked, he vibrates it open, then pulls Mick in with him. 

Mick doesn't even let him get the door closed before he's crowding him back against it, the heat of him making Barry feel a lot less like his world is threatening to topple. Mick's kiss is rough and demanding, and Barry returns it with interest, pouring all of the stress bunching up his shoulders into it. 

It's only when Barry relaxes back against the door, his emotions settled, that Mick pulls back and murmurs, "Thawne figure us out?" 

Barry quirks a tired smile at him. "Yeah." 

"He gonna be a problem?" 

"I don't think so. He's promised not to report me or tell Joe, at least." 

Mick grunts and leans in to press a gentler kiss against Barry's mouth, then steps back, giving them both space to calm their bodies back down. Because, as tempting as it might be to go a little too far in one of S.T.A.R. Labs' unused storerooms, this is far from the time. (Anyway, Len will give them hell for doing anything without him.) "Yer dad gonna be a problem?" Mick asks after a moment. 

Barry sighs and shrugs. "Maybe? Eddie's gonna try to talk him down a bit more. I'm hoping Len can fit her into his plans in such a way that she doesn't feel like she's being purposefully excluded, but keeps her safe enough that Joe and Eddie can stomach it." 

"And you," Mick adds with a flat look. 

Barry winces. "And me." 

Mick grunts, then motions to the door behind Barry. "Lenny went with yer scientists, prolly hopin' Ramon'll help him upgrade his gun or sum'thin'." 

Barry snorts and shakes his head. "That, or he's hoping to steal something he thinks will serve him on his own." Mick snorts himself, because they've both seen Len fiddle with the cold gun enough times to make that a very real possibility. "They're probably down in Cisco's lab, then. Did you catch what Len's got Caitlin doing?" 

"Callin' 'er fiancé," Mick reports, and Barry almost smacks himself, because Firestorm might be in Pennsylvania, but there's no reason they can't fly back to Central before the accelerator finishes charging up. " 'N sum'thin' 'bout maybe fuckin' with Wells' speed? Drug-wise, I think." 

"Something to drain or suppress our powers, similar to how I lost my powers when Blackout hit me," Barry assumes. 

Mick grimaces in distaste at the reminder of that incident – Barry had filled them both in when he'd got home that night, after getting his powers back, and he's fairly certain that Len's return of the diamond the next day was a direct reaction to that – but agrees, "Likely. 

Barry offers him a smile that he hopes is comforting. "It's not a _terrible_ idea to have a way to take out speedsters. I mean, we've got two right now, so what's to say another one isn't going to show up and cause problems down the line?" 

"Dun't mean I have t' like it," is Mick's flat reply. 

"Yeah, well..." Barry shrugs. "I'd rather you and Len and my team have it, than someone else. If we develop it first, we can probably find a way to counteract it. Just in case." 

Mick huffs and shoots Barry an unimpressed look. "Dun't that defeat the purpose?" 

"Maybe?" 

Mick rolls his eyes. "Y'all're always makin' thin's too complicated. Whate'er, plan B's still shoot 'em 'til he's down." 

Barry's the one rolling his eyes, then. "I'm gonna go down and check with Len and Cisco, see if Len can't find somewhere for Iris. Could you keep tabs on Joe and Eddie?" 

"Ya want me keepin' yer dad away from Iris?" 

Barry takes a moment to consider that, then shakes his head. "Nah. Iris can hold her own. But, if things get hairy and you need backup, there's a green button for the microphones on the desk which will switch on the building intercom." 

"Got it." 

Barry shoots him a grateful grin and speeds forward for a quick kiss, which Mick smiles into, then hurries off to hunt down his other boyfriend and ensure he's not being too much of a pest. 

-0-

While Len isn't being too much of a pest, Cisco still seems relieved that Barry gets him to leave his private lab. They end up hunting down Lisa and Iris, and Len discusses options with Iris – Barry finally starts to get an idea of Len's plan and, okay, none of them ever would have come up with something like it – a couple of which she likes. When Barry – who has been reduced to messenger mostly because he's the least likely to either get shot or yelled at – takes the options back to Joe and Eddie, the three of them settle on the one that makes them the least twitchy. 

Firestorm shows up about an hour before Cisco's guesstimate of when the accelerator will be online. Ronnie seems happy to accept Len, Mick, and Lisa's assistance with a quick nod and smile from Caitlin – who had, in the intervening hours, apparently made friends with Lisa, via Iris, and decided that Mick and Len weren't that bad; Barry blames their habit of not killing people and never doing worse than winging Barry during their heists, save Len's first appearance – but Dr Stein is a little less amiable. At least he seems willing to accept Len's plan as a good one, when he finally lays it out for all of them. 

When the accelerator finishes charging, they're ready to go, and Len's got everyone heading to their places before Wells appears on the outside cameras, casually strolling up to the fence and pushing his way inside, then turning a wide smile on the camera he knows is recording him and making a beckoning motion. 

Barry takes a deep breath and looks over at Firestorm, who had merged when Len sent everyone else out of the cortex. "Ready?" he asks. 

"As we'll ever be," Ronnie replies, then lights his head and hands on fire. 

Barry smiles at the reminder of Mick's open delight the first time he'd seen that trick, then he pulls his cowl up over his face and turns to lead the way through the building at normal speeds. 

Wells is waiting for them, looking a little impatient, and Barry has to give Len a point for that one, because he'd been _insistent_ that Barry walk – not run, not even _normal_ person run – out to meet him. He also looks a little surprised to see Firestorm at Barry's side, though he covers that quickly with a smile and a sarcastic, "I see you phoned a friend." 

"Yeah. Thought it might be nice to have a little extra firepower." 

(Dammit, Len. He dropped so many elemental puns during his briefing, he's got Barry doing it, too.) 

Wells' smile just widens. "I see. Are you hoping an extra person will be enough to let you beat me?" 

Honestly, Barry thinks he just needs the _right_ extra person. Sadly, Len had nixed that little team-up idea with an unimpressed stare. 

Still, the plan isn't to fight out here, where speed will be an asset, but to take things inside, so Barry makes a show of tightening his hands into fists and clenching his jaw – not hard; the mere _sight_ of Wells makes his blood boil – then grits out, "No. We want you to shut off the particle accelerator." 

Wells laughs, then, loud and _mean_ , and Barry can sense Firestorm shifting next to him, like he's considering just throwing a fireball at him. Which Barry would be totally okay with, though they do need to at least _try_ to stick to Len's plan. 

"Oh, Barry, Barry, Barry," Wells says, shaking his head and still grinning, like this is a _game_. "Why would I do that? I need it to be on." 

Barry swallows. "Why? What purpose could it _possibly_ serve?" 

"Why don't we go down to the accelerator and I'll show you," Wells replies. 

It's not the location they were expecting him to want to go, but Len's plan is flexible enough to make up the difference, and Barry doesn't need his comms – a caution, in case Wells has some sort of device that lets him hack into them; Barry's wearing a wire that's sending straight to Len's receiver, so he knows if they need to change anything – to know that his boyfriend is already shouting directions to get everyone into a new position. 

To give everyone time to move, Barry asks, "Why down there? Why can't you do whatever it is from the cortex? Can't face Cisco and Caitlin after you _betrayed their trust_?" Well, that came out angrier than he'd intended. 

"Betrayed them? Oh, no. I've made them _better_ ," Wells insists. 

" _Better_?" Ronnie demands, taking a step forward, and Barry throws out an arm in an attempt to make him cool off. "You think our lives are _better_? Than what?!" 

Barry realizes Caitlin must not have had time to fill Ronnie and Dr Stein in about the truth, and there definitely hadn't been time when he arrived. "Dr Wells," he says, "isn't Dr Wells. He's someone named Eobard Thawne. From the future." 

Wells smiles, wide and terrible. Ronnie is quiet for a long moment, then he says, "Time travel? Isn't that exceedingly dangerous?" in the tone of voice that Barry knows belongs to Dr Stein. 

"Indeed," Wells agrees, still looking cheerful. "But, as you can see, I still exist. I just need a little help getting home." His gaze zeroes in on Barry again. "Which, yes, requires the particle accelerator. Why don't I show you how?" 

Barry swallows and hopes that was enough time for everyone to get into position. "Fine. But Ronnie and Dr Stein are coming with us." Which is really just a way to make sure Wells doesn't speed past all of the traps, but Barry hopes Wells believes it's more a case of Barry needing a second fighter with him, who also happens to serve as a brilliant scientist, in case Wells starts in on more scientific theory than Barry can follow without a primer. 

Wells' smile doesn't fade. If anything, it looks slightly more triumphant, with a definite edge of superiority. "Lead the way." 

Barry does take the lead, with Firestorm following behind Wells. The ground floor is empty, too close to the outside to serve as a good site for an ambush. They get onto the lift and suffer a tense ride down to the accelerator access floor. There, Barry and Wells step out of the lift and into the landing. Firestorm, though, instead of joining them, hits the door close button, which Cisco had re-engineered to immediately close the doors with a loud 'clang'. 

Barry's moving before the sound finishes echoing, speeding away from Wells and towards the cluster of cold bombs Cisco had made, so Barry has a weapon that won't slow him down when he holds it for too long. He just misses getting hit with the first stream of absolute cold, fired by Len, with Joe barely a half-second behind him. 

Wells manages to avoid both cold streams, but runs straight into one of the cold mines Cisco made, and he yells as the puff of icy air envelops him. Barry hits him with one of the cold bombs when he stumbles in the direction he'd gone, clearly thinking that way is safe, and it slows him down enough that Joe and Len's guns hit him in the back. 

Wells hits his knees and snarls, "You think this will stop _me_?!" And then he begins to vibrate. 

"Thawne!" Len shouts, and Barry thinks he sees Wells' vibrating pause for a speedy gasp of a second, but Len isn't talking to him, and two more streams of cold hit Wells as Iris and Eddie join the fray from where they'd been holding back, standing in reserve in case Wells got past the landing point or they needed the extra guns. 

Barry throws another cold bomb, aiming to get it to detonate under Wells' hunched over form, where the guns aren't hitting him. He's rewarded with a pained yell, but then Wells is up, moving towards him at a speed that's far too slow for a speedster, but still fast for a normal human. 

Someone shouts his name and at least one of the cold guns stop firing, probably afraid of hitting him, but Barry can't focus on that, is already moving to punch Wells, hopefully shove him back a bit–

He doesn't get the chance, though, because a hot hand on his shoulder yanks him back, out of the way, and Mick's thick fist slams into Wells' face hard enough to send him staggering back, blood already staining the faint covering of ice over his lips. Mick follows him with a snarl that's all protective rage, driving another fist into his stomach with enough force to make Wells retch. 

Mick gets out of the way just in time to avoid a renewed blast of cold. And Barry can't tell if Wells is just too hurt to shake it off this time, or if Len has found some sort of way to make his gun _colder_ , but he's starting to turn blue, ice forming along the side of his head where the beam's hitting him. 

"Len, _no_!" Barry shouts, completely forgetting to use his boyfriend's alias while around the others. "I need him alive to confess to Mom's murder!" 

The cold stream cuts off, and Barry can't see Len's eyes behind his goggles, but the angry twist of his mouth is familiar enough that he can assume he's being glared at. " _Alive_ means he can attack you again," he snarls. 

"I don't _care_ ," Barry shoots back, irritated. "Dad comes first." 

Len scoffs, but he doesn't try to argue that. "Fine," he says flatly as he turns off his cold gun. "You get one chance at a confession. _Then_ I ice him." 

"Ya did promise," Mick adds, before moving forward to punch the ice off of Wells' face. (And probably make sure he's good and knocked out for the trip to the holding cell Cisco, Caitlin, and Lisa have been working on getting up and running as soon as it was determined to be safe for them to go into the accelerator.) 

"Barry!" Joe shouts, looking horrified. Iris and Eddie aren't looking much better; it's nice to know _some_ people in the corridor don't think Barry would condone cold-blooded murder. 

"I did no such thing!" Barry insists. 

Len pulls down his goggles so he can raise an eyebrow at him, while Mick snorts. 

Wait, had he? "Was I distracted at the time?" he asks, because both Len and Mick have been known to get him to promise things when he's not paying attention. (In all fairness, Barry does it to them, too.) 

"More tired," Mick announces. 

" _Mick_ ," Len snarls, and Barry's not sure if he's more annoyed at Mick for admitting that Barry wasn't at his best, or if that's meant as a warning that Joe is _right there_.

Mick looks at Barry as he slings Wells over his shoulder, his expression a clear, 'We're winning this one, Barry.'

Barry huffs and crosses his arms over his chest, because, okay, _maybe_ Len has a point about killing Wells being the only way to keep him from coming back. And _maybe_ Mick deserves a reward for keeping his promise about not letting Wells touch Barry. 

And then Iris jumps and shoves her hand into one pocket, coming out with a familiar mobile. "Barry! It's someone named Ollie?" 

Barry blinks at that, because usually, if Team Arrow needs to reach him, it's Felicity who calls. Still, he hurries forward to accept it from her while Mick makes his way to the accelerator with Wells, Eddie, Joe, and Len following behind with their guns, because no way he's ignoring this call. "Oliver?" he answers once the call's connected. 

_"Barry, listen, I don't have much time. I need you to go to Nanda Parbat, the League of Assassins' base, and break my team out of the dungeon,"_ Oliver says in a rush that's nothing like him. 

Barry swallows down a sinking feeling and says the only thing he possibly can: "Yeah, of course. Is that what those blueprints you sent me are for?" Because he'd received an email from an unfamiliar web address a few days ago with building blueprints of someplace he had no reference for. The subject line had been _'Just in case'_ and it had been signed with the emoji of a heart with an arrow through it. (As much as he wants to mock Oliver for that, this isn't the time.) Barry had thought it was probably from Oliver, but when he'd sent an email back, asking for clarification, it had bounced as undeliverable. 

He'd kept the email, of course, given the subject line and his suspicions as to the sender. He'd looked over the blueprints a couple of times, when he'd needed something to distract him from Eddie still being missing. He'd even shown them to Len, mostly because he knew his boyfriend got a weird sort of pleasure out of deciphering blueprints. He'd determined the places where the valuables were most likely to be kept within a minute of looking at them, of course, and Barry wonders if he isn't about to have the chance to determine if he was right. 

_"Yes. Thank you. Take care."_

The line goes dead. 

"Oliver?" Barry whispers, pulling his mobile away so he can stare at the end call screen. That had sounded suspiciously like a goodbye. _God_ , what had Oliver got himself into? 

"Bare?" Iris says, touching his wrist. 

Barry swallows, pulls himself back together; he can't really leave long enough to help Oliver with whatever's going on, but he can get Felicity and Dig and whoever else out of Nanda Parbat and send _them_ after Oliver. Because if Barry's learnt _anything_ this year, it's that you can't be your city's superhero without your team backing you up. 

"I need to help some friends," he tells Iris, holding his mobile back out towards her, because there's nowhere for him to keep it in his suit. (And, besides, the roaming charges would be a nightmare.) "I shouldn't be gone more than an hour, okay?" 

Iris clutches his mobile against her chest, looking worried and strained. "It's the Arrow, isn't it? Oliver Queen really is–"

"Iris," Barry says, placing his hands on her shoulders. "I promise I will answer all of your questions about the Arrow and his team when I get back. But, right now, I need to go save them before it's too late. Can you try to keep Len and Mick from killing Wells until I get back?" 

Iris quirks an uncertain smile at him. "I'll try." 

"Thank you." Barry kisses her cheek, then races for the closest of the stairwells and out of the building.

.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time he makes it back to Central City, the sun is rising. Inside S.T.A.R. Labs, he finds everyone sitting on the array of couches and chairs in the break room down the hall from the cortex, a massive pile of breakfast sandwiches sat on the table in the middle of the room. By the wrappers in the bin, Barry suspects the others have already had their fill, which is proven by none of them trying to stop him as he speeds through eating the first half of the pile. He slows down for the second half, if only to be polite, and glances around, trying to decide where to sit. 

Joe, Eddie, and Iris are seated on one side of the room, Iris' head resting on Eddie's shoulder and Eddie's head resting against the top of hers, while Joe sits up straight and stiff, throwing occasional glares across the room. Len, Mick, and Lisa, who he's glaring at, are all feigning relaxation, sprawled across the couch they've claimed in just such a way, Barry knows, that they can snap up and into action without much difficulty. Len is, of course, throwing occasional smirks at Joe, between picking at his nails, while the other two are a little less suicidal. 

Caitlin, Ronnie, Cisco, and Dr Stein are seated in a line against the wall across from the door, all of them looking a little uncertain at being stuck between the angry cop and smug criminal. Which, honestly, Barry totally gets that. 

He's seriously considering tugging a chair over to sit next to Cisco – picking the neutral party seems like the smartest choice, right now – when Iris asks, "How are your friends?" 

Caitlin and Cisco both straighten, looking a mix of worried and hopeful. "Iris said something about the Arrow calling?" Caitlin says, glancing uncertainly towards the three criminals. 

Barry sighs and nods as he unwraps another sandwich. "Yeah. I don't have the full story, but his team were locked up in the dungeon of the League of Assassins' base. With Malcolm Merlyn." Which was just _so_ unbelievably weird. 

Len whistles while Cisco and Caitlin trade wide-eyed looks. "That's a nasty place to go on holiday," Len says, just cheerful enough to make Cisco and Caitlin throw glares at him. 

Barry sighs. "I didn't see the Arrow, but the rest of them are headed back to Starling. I guess he's already headed there." Which would explain why he hadn't been able to let them out himself. Well, _partially_ explain that; Barry fully intends to ring Felicity as soon as everything sounds like it's calmed down in Starling and grill her until she fills in all of the holes. "I did get to knock out and tie up a bunch of scary assassins, though." 

That earns him a strained laugh from the three scientists, Ronnie, Iris, and Eddie. Joe just scowls a little harder, while Len and Lisa put on amused smirks and Mick gives a subtle little eyeroll. 

"Well," Len drawls, "now that Robin Hood and his merry team are back to terrorizing the streets of Starling City once more and the Flash has filled his personal black hole–" Barry makes a face at him, which Len ignores "–perhaps we can get on with the making Wells confess so I can ice him, hm?" 

"I got a better idea," Joe snarls, pointing his Sig Sauer at Len, "why don't the three of you get out of here while we handle Wells the _right_ way?" 

"Joe!" Barry shouts, rushing forward to stand in the way of Joe's shot. "Put it down!" 

"You condoning _murder_ now, Bare?" Joe demands, standing. He does point the gun at the floor, though, clearly unwilling to leave it aimed at Barry. "You want your dad out, we do things the right way. The _legal_ way." 

"Oh?" Len says as the couch creaks behind Barry, because he _doesn't know when to quit_. "Are you actually suggesting we put a mass murderer with superspeed from the future into the oh-so capable hands of the modern justice system?" 

"Iron Heights can handle him," Joe insists. 

"And who helped build those precious meta-blockers?" Len asks, an icy edge to his voice that makes Barry think he should maybe be focusing more on protecting _Joe_ than protecting Len. 

"They're working on him now." 

" _Are they_? What's to say he isn't just playing along until the Flash does what he wants?" 

Joe turns to Cisco and Caitlin for support, but they trade uncertain looks; clearly, neither of them had thought about the possibility of Wells having some way to negate the cell. (Honestly, neither had Barry.) 

"But, then," Len says, clearly sensing his victory and going in for the kill, "perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps Wells really is stuck with no back-up plan. Perhaps your precious justice system will work, for once, and Henry Allen–" Joe stiffens, like he hadn't expected Len to know Dad's name "–will be traded for the man pretending to be Harrison Wells. The man who, let me remind you, _knows the Flash's identity_."

Barry flinches, sees Joe do the same, and he knows they're not the only ones. That hadn't even occurred to him as a potential danger, because the handful of metas who had seen Barry out of costume while he was fighting them had all died before they would have been able to tell anyone else. Wells, for all that he's kept Barry's secret so far, won't have much cause to do so once he's thrown into Iron Heights. Hell, he might well tell it all during his trial, just for the sheer pleasure of watching Barry be tossed into Iron Heights for vigilantism as his father is being broken out. And, just like what happened to Roy Harper in Starling City, the minute the inmates realize they've got the Flash in their grasp, they'll _kill him_.

Len steps right up to Barry's back, close enough he can feel his body heat through the thin shirt he'd changed into upon his return to the labs. "If you care about Barry at all, _Detective_ ," Len breathes, low and violent, "you'll stand back and let me kill Wells the _second_ he's finished singing." 

Joe's got his gun up and pointing over Barry's shoulder almost faster than Barry can react, and he snarls, "Get the _hell_ away from my son." 

Barry grabs the gun and wrenches it out of Joe's hand, then twists and shoves both of them back a couple of steps. "Both of you _quit it_!" he shouts, angry and stressed. When Len opens his mouth, clearly intent on continuing his pissing match with Joe, Barry calls, "Mick!" 

Mick leans forward and grabs the back of Len's shirt, using it to tug him back towards the couch. Len goes with a huff and settles back down into his original seat with that particular expression that Barry knows means he's only giving in _for the moment_.

Well, hopefully Len will behave long enough for Barry to get Joe to back down. Which, on that note, Barry says, "Joe," as he turns back to his foster father, only to freeze, his stomach jumping into his throat and making it impossible to speak, because _he knows that expression_. He'd seen it one terrible morning seven years ago, right before Joe completely shredded his heart. 

Iris is already getting up, her face twisting with dread, clearly reading something in Barry's expression, when Joe says, his voice laced with anger and disappointment, "Barry, tell me you're not sleeping with those two crooks." 

Barry _can't move_.

"Dad–" Iris starts. 

Joe spins to glare at her. "You knew?!" 

And Iris – brave, _wonderful_ Iris – crosses her arms over her chest and stands straight and proud and says, "Of _course_ I knew. Barry isn't afraid of what I'll do." 

Oh, _god_. How did everything go so _wrong_?

"Yes, Detective," Len says, voice coldly intent in a way that doesn't bode well. " _Some_ people in your family don't threaten to send their children to _prison_."

" _Len_ ," Barry manages to choke out, though he's pretty sure the horrified gasps from the scientific/engineering peanut gallery drown him out. 

Joe's eyes go wide for a brief second, but then he rallies, narrowing his eyes in Len's direction and snarling, "I clearly made the wrong comparison, didn't I, Snart, since _you're_ the one who deserves being stuck in there with his no-good father." 

Barry doesn't even realize he's moved until after he hears the impact of flesh-on-flesh and sees Joe stumbling back, one hand going up to cover his nose. "Don't you _dare_ ," Barry whispers, so angry, he's sort of impressed that he didn't do worse that punch Joe in the face at a normal speed. 

And then warm hands are curling around his upper arms and he's being pulled back, away from Joe. "Make yerself scarce, West," Mick suggests, his voice low with the same rage burning through Barry's veins. 

Joe makes a quick retreat, evidently aware that this is one insult-slinging match that he won't be winning. 

"Doc," Mick says, still clearly angry, but trying to hide it, "ya might wanna go after 'im. Make sure Barry didn't break nothin'." 

"I– Yes. Good idea," Caitlin says, stuttering just a bit. 

"I'll help you," Ronnie is quick to say, and both he and Dr Stein rush to their feet, clearly intending to take the excuse to get out while they can. 

Ronnie and Dr Stein hurry past Barry and Mick without looking at them, but Caitlin hesitates for a moment in front of Barry, sending an uncertain look at Mick. Just before Barry closes his eyes in defeat, resigned to losing one of his friends – he'd known it would come to this – she says, "Fuck it," and hugs Barry. 

Barry's not certain what noise he makes, but he's fairly certain he should be embarrassed by it. He isn't, though, because Mick lets go, clearly crowded out by Cisco and Iris joining the hug, and maybe everything hasn't gone so horribly wrong, after all. 

" _Dude_ ," Cisco says, sounding maybe a little disbelieving, "how did I miss all the _flirting_?"

Iris laughs, then, and Caitlin lets out one of her more inelegant snorts and Lisa, somewhere behind Barry, lets out a loud, delighted cackle and says, "Oh, I am _keeping_ him." 

" _Do something about her_ ," Cisco hisses, looking a little wild. "She's, like, your sister-in-law or something, right? She wants me to make her a gun that shoots _gold_ , man." 

Barry chokes on a laugh and shakes his head. "I have zero control over Lisa, sorry." 

"You're on your own," Iris says with a sparkle in her eyes, as though she's as aware as Barry that Cisco is going to end up making the requested gun eventually. (Because what Lisa Snart wants, Lisa Snart _gets_ ; Len probably spoilt her a little too much after Lewis got sent to prison the last time.) 

Len. _Lewis_.

Barry twists, distracted from the relief that he hadn't lost Caitlin and Cisco by concern for his boyfriend. 

Len is still seated on the couch, and he's wearing an amused smirk that's probably intended to fool everyone around him into thinking he's brushed off Joe's comment. But, well, Barry _knows_ Len, and he's been on the receiving end of Joe's vitriol before; there's a tenseness in his shoulders and a shadow in his eyes that makes Barry want to go punch Joe again. (Or punch Lewis; don't think that hadn't become all the more tempting once he realized he could vibrate through walls.) 

"Come on, Cisco. You can help me," Caitlin says, and she and Cisco leave the room together. 

Iris leans up and kisses Barry's cheek, taking Joe's gun from him, then heads out with Eddie, leaving Barry alone with his boyfriends and Lisa. 

Barry's never quite certain how to handle Len when it comes to Lewis, because his default response to seeing someone he loves in pain is to hug them, but Len has never really done hugs, and he _really_ doesn't do hugs when it comes to his father. 

And then an idea occurs to Barry. "I'll be right back!" he calls, and speeds out of the room and down the corridor to the employee kitchen. There, hidden all the way at the top in the back of the right-most cupboard – where none of the others are likely to go looking for it because Barry's got half a head on both Caitlin and Cisco, and Wells had been rolling around in a wheelchair – there's a twenty ounce tin of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix, which Barry saves for especially bad days. He sets the electric kettle heating, then goes in search of mini marshmallows. When he comes up empty – very likely, Cisco polished off the last bag Barry bought – he makes a quick run to the nearest grocery, getting back just as the water's starting to boil. 

He makes four mugs and arrays them on a shiny silver tray he's fairly certain belongs to the med bay, shaking a massive number of marshmallows into a bowl he sets in the middle, then makes his careful way back to the break room. 

Mick sees him first and he snorts, his mouth twisting with a fond smile. Lisa lets out a startled laugh, clearly familiar with her brother's reliance on hot chocolate, but likely unfamiliar with how much of a _thing_ it had become for them. 

Len, though, he looks startled for a moment, then he smiles, wide and grateful. When Barry brings him a mug after setting the tray down on the table and dumping a handful of marshmallows on top, Len catches the front of his shirt in one hand and tugs until Barry leans down for the kiss, both of them smiling. 

Len lets him go to collect his own mug, and Lisa tosses marshmallows at both Barry and Len, muttering about 'unnecessary PDA'. Which, of course, just makes Len tug Mick in for a kiss. He catches the next marshmallow she throws at him in his mouth, somehow managing not to slosh his hot chocolate, and Mick just tosses the marshmallow she throws at him back at her. 

Barry rolls his eyes and settles onto the couch next to Len, leaving a careful barrier of space between them, in case Len needs it. Len doesn't shift closer, but he does take Barry's right hand, long fingers playing over his knuckles. "You punched your cop-dad for me," he murmurs, and Barry can't quite tell from his voice or expression how he feels about that. 

"He was out of line," Barry responds, because it's true. 

Len lets out a non-committal hum as he kisses Barry's knuckles, then he threads their fingers together and focuses on drinking his hot chocolate while watching Mick and Lisa toss marshmallows and familiar insults back and forth. 

Once the hot chocolate is gone and marshmallows are dotting the floor, Len turns to Barry and says, "I expect you have some sort of recording equipment for this confession of Wells'." 

Barry nods. "Yeah. Each of the cells are equipped with audio and video recording devices, so we could keep an eye on the metas when we were keeping them here. It should already be recording him, but I can stop past the cortex on my way down and make sure it's saving the recording somewhere readily accessible." 

" 'Our'," Len says. 

Barry blinks at him, confused. 

"Yer not goin' down t' talk t'im alone," Mick translates. 

When Barry opens his mouth to argue, Len covers it with one hand and says in a quiet, serious tone, "This man is a master manipulator whose favorite game is chess and who apparently requires you in some way that involves the particle accelerator; you're not going down to talk to him alone." 

Put that way, the order sounds perfectly reasonable. 

Barry sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Yeah, okay. I suppose that's not a bad idea. But, then, _no one_ should go down alone. Just to be on the safe side." 

"Acceptable," Len agrees, and Barry suspects he isn't anticipating Wells living long enough for that to matter. 

(Then again, if Len and Mick have their way – and Barry's nearly certain they will, after Len's earlier speech about the dangers of letting him live – Wells will be dead as soon as they have a recording they're certain will be able to stand up to the scrutiny of the legal system.) 

Barry's already halfway decided he'd rather have Mick with him than Len – better a silent sentinel at his back than someone who thinks biting sarcasm is _helpful_ , and watching people underestimate Mick's intelligence never gets old – by the time they all get to the cortex and find Joe waiting with everyone else, white bandaging standing out like a beacon on his nose. 

Barry doesn't need to look behind him to know Mick is glaring at Joe and probably mentally debating the best way to break something else. Len and Lisa, though, they'll plot their revenge for some time in future, keeping tally of all the perceived wrongs Joe does and making him regret them all at once. (If Barry's still angry enough when it happens, he might just make sure Joe makes it to the next heist _before_ Len and Mick make their getaway.) 

Simply put, if he leaves Mick in the same room as Joe right now, there'll be blood spilt, no matter who's there to get in the way; much wiser to bring him down to the accelerator and leave Len and Lisa to form a united front if Joe starts in about them again. 

Iris sidles over to Barry, casting a worried look at Mick. "Dad says he's gonna stick this out to the end. No matter what," she explains. 

Barry nods – Iris got her stubbornness from Joe, and it beating out self-preservation is another trait they share – and raises his voice to tell everyone in the room, "I want to make sure the recording equipment in the cell is working and saving everything to the server, then Mick and I are heading down to talk to him." 

Cisco, Caitlin, and Ronnie all quickly make their ways to the seats in front of the computer terminals to run the necessary checks, while everyone else spreads out a bit, Joe very obviously refusing to look at Barry or his boyfriends, yet still somehow managing to keep on the opposite side of the room, even when Len starts prowling around the edge of the room, eventually stopped by Iris, who just shakes her head at him, her expression pinched. 

As soon as all the checks are done, Cisco throws the video feed up on one of the wall screens. Wells still looks a little battered, his accelerated healing evidently blocked in the cell, but he's awake and staring up at the camera. 

"That's kinda creepy," Cisco says, and Barry nods; it hadn't been a secret to any of the metas where the camera was in their cell, but they'd all pretty much ignored it, beyond showing it the occasional finger. Wells, though, seemed perfectly content to stare at it until he got a response. 

"We're recording," Caitlin offers, twisting in her chair to give Barry a strained smile. 

"Okay. Mick?" Barry says, looking at his boyfriend. 

Mick grunts, tosses one last angry glare at Joe's back, then leads the way out of the cortex. 

When they get down to the pipeline, Wells is waiting for them with a smile. Which falters slightly when he notices Mick. "Ah," he says, tilting his head to one side and focusing on Barry. "I should have guessed it, really. Captain Cold and Heatwave, two of the Flash's most constant rivals. Friendly rivals, it's often said. Why not _lovers_? It will never last, you realize." 

"Shut up," Barry snaps, crossing his arms tight over his chest and taking strength from the familiar sense of Mick at his back. Not quite close enough to feel the heat of him, but still plenty aware of his presence. "You're the one who told me not to change things if I go back in time; this is one of your consequences, so _deal with it_."

Wells narrows his eyes, dropping the affable father-figure act. "No, I don't think I will. You really think, _Flash_ , that you can stomach living with two murderers? You, with your moral code and great care for the Geneva Conventions?" 

Barry snorts, because Mick was the one to take him to task for not doing his part to get the metas out of their tiny cells; honestly, Barry had been scarily content to toss them in and forget they were down here. And, for all Wells thinks he knows him, he really has no clue how much Barry will let Mick and Len get away with; he's known they're murderers since before he moved in with them, and while he much prefers them avoiding casualties, he knows they'll both kill to keep him or Lisa or each other safe. Not unlike how Len had used Barry's safety to justify his intention to kill Wells. 

He's not here to justify his relationship, though, _certainly_ not to this pretend Wells, so he demands, "Who killed Nora Allen?" 

Wells considers him for a moment, then looks up at the camera recording him. He smiles and turns back to Barry. "Oh, that's cute. You're hoping for a recorded confession and then, what? Toss me into Iron Heights?" 

"Something like that," Barry agrees tightly, because he doesn't really want it recorded that Len and Mick won't be letting him back out of the cell alive. 

"Ah. But what if I could trade you something _better_? Something you want even _more_ : Your mother, alive." 

Barry chokes because _what_?

"You can save her, Barry," Wells says, his voice going low and smooth. "It's such a simple, little thing." 

And then Mick is standing between them, a solid block of angry, protective muscle. " 'N what'll you be gettin' outta it, ya sick fuck?" he demands. 

Barry swallows and shakes his head; Wells almost had him, hadn't he? He keeps probing at all the potential cracks in Barry's armor, looking for the one that will give. Master manipulator indeed. 

Wells spreads his hands wide. "Why, I'll get to go home. Back to the future. _My_ future." He puts on a nasty smile and meets Barry's eyes over Mick's shoulder. "Flash and all, more the shame." 

_"Mick!"_ Len snaps through the intercom. _"Get him out of there!"_

Barry doesn't fight him as Mick herds him out of the pipeline and hits the door control. His mind is too busy slotting together all of the puzzle pieces he's been picking up over the past seven months, finally getting something like a coherent picture: All the comments during their first fight in the stadium, like they'd been fighting far longer; calling himself the _Reverse_ -Flash; the two speedsters in his home the night Mom died, one of them apparently Barry himself, and the way Barry found himself _streets_ away, safely out of harm's way; his parting comment, like there could have been a future where Barry didn't exist. 

"He showed up fifteen years ago to kill _me_?" he whispers under the echoing of pounding feet coming closer. 

Mick's hand tightens on his shoulder, but he doesn't speak, and Barry knows he's come to the same conclusion. 

But, if Wells wants him dead, why has he been trying to get Barry faster? Why play the part of mentor and try so hard to keep him alive? 

No, Barry knows that answer, Wells has implied enough for him to fill in the missing pieces: He needs the particle accelerator functioning and for Barry to go into the past, save his mom, while Wells goes back to the future. 

Why the particle accelerator? Why Barry? Why can't Wells just go forward on his own? Is it something that takes two speedsters? 

"Barry!" Iris shouts, and then she's pulling him into a hug, away from Mick, with Cisco and Caitlin right on her heels. 

It isn't until Barry hears the whir of the cold gun coming to life and Len ordering, "Open the door," that he realizes what's going on. 

"Len, _no_!" he shouts, tugging out of his friends' grasp and turning to face where Len and Mick are stepping through the opening door into the pipeline, while Lisa mans the controls. "He didn't confess!" 

"I said _one_ chance, Barry," Len reminds him, his tone flat and cold. Then he motions to Lisa and the door starts closing behind them. 

Barry wants to race after them – there's still plenty of time before the door closes – but Iris has his arm again, holding tight, and Lisa is poised to try to stop him. And he knows better than to think he can win when they team up. 

"Bare," Iris says quietly while he slumps backwards, into the waiting arms of Cisco and Caitlin, like they'd been waiting to catch him. "Henry, if he heard Wells taunting you like that, trying to get under your skin, to make you play his game..." She meets his eyes, her own wet with tears. "He'd say it's not worth it." 

Iris hasn't seen or spoken to Dad in _years_ , but Barry suspects she's just the messenger, sent by either Joe or Len. He closes his eyes and tries to ignore how it _hurts_ , knowing his last chance at freeing his dad is dying behind the accelerator door. That everything he's built his life on, every promise he ever whispered through that terrible pane of glass, is _gone_ , destroyed by the hands of the two people he loves the most in the world. 

It's just like Wells said: Does he _really_ think he can continue living with – _loving_ – a couple of murderers? 

When Lisa turns to open the door and let Len and Mick out, Barry rips himself out of his friends' hands and races out of the hallway, out of the lab, out of the _city_.

He runs and runs and _runs_ , wishing, _desperately_ , that he could find a way to outrun the way his heart feels like it's falling to pieces. That he could run fast enough to reset time, do it all again, but _differently_.

(How differently? What would he change? What would be the consequences? Who would he lose to save his dad?) 

Finally, eventually, he can't run any more. He flops down on a beach, staring across the waves, and it takes him a long moment to realize why it looks familiar. 

He's in Sun City. 

He laughs a bit, then he cries a bit. And then, finally, he finds the nearest Big Belly Burger, buys enough food to get him to the closest of the safehouses he remembers from college, and honestly doesn't remember how he makes it up the long flight of stairs, past the door he doesn't have the key for with him, and into the musty bed that hasn't been used by anyone in _years_.

-0-

It takes them almost a week, but Len and Mick _do_ find him, walking through the familiar-not-familiar streets of his college town like a ghost. They take him back to a different safehouse than the one he's been crashing at, one that looks and smells a little more lived in. Len gets him into the shower and cleans him, and Mick cooks something that tastes so much better than whatever crap food he'd been eating, but Barry honestly can't remember what it is once it's gone. And then they stick him between them on the couch and Len queues up _Singin' In the Rain_ on a laptop he sets on the shipping crate that's serving as a coffee table. 

Barry falls asleep in the middle of _The Duelling Cavalier_ 's screening, and when he wakes back up, they've all three been moved to the bed, still dressed, with him still in the middle of Len and Mick. 

He can finally see through the fog that had been filling his head for the past week again, and he feels like a complete asshole for running like he had. There's still a wave of grief for the lost chance to free his dad waiting to swamp him, but he can see past it, now, can realize he'd let Wells fuck with his head, just like Len and Mick had warned him he'd try. 

Barry can admit that he's _damn_ lucky they came after him, rather than just cutting their losses. But, then, perhaps the three of them have got so used to chasing after each other, they'll never be able to stop. 

(Selfishly, Barry thinks that's the best possible outcome, because he _cannot_ lose them. Not now that he's lost all hope for his dad. Not that he honestly thinks he'd have managed if he'd lost them _before_ the lightning.) 

Somehow, he manages to slip out of the bed without waking either of them. Which should be an accomplishment – neither of them are light sleepers, and the faster he goes, the more the mattress moves – except he can see all the signs of long, sleepless nights on their faces, for all they've relaxed into sleep, and guilty shame makes his stomach roll. 

He thinks of another person who's probably suffering her share of sleepless nights and grabs one of the burners left on the rickety dresser as he slips out of the room to relieve his bladder. 

When he finally works up the nerves to dial the familiar number, he's curled up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate, sans marshmallows, because that clearly hadn't been a priority the last time this safehouse had seen a grocery run. 

_"Hello?"_ Iris answers, sounding drained in a way that makes Barry hunch in on himself a little more. 

"Iris?" he replies, wincing when his voice cracks with disuse; other than ordering food to go, he hasn't been doing a lot of talking. 

_" **Barry** ,"_ she breathes, sounding so _relieved_. And then she starts to cry. 

Barry closes his eyes and wishes he could give voice to the words that will make this better, but every time he opens his mouth, he comes up empty. So he makes himself listen to her cry like some sort of punishment. 

Something shifts on the other end of the phone line, Iris' sobbing going distant, and Eddie, sounding like he's expecting bad news, says, _"Hello?"_

Barry swallows against a massive clog in his throat and says, "It's Barry." 

_"Oh, god, **Barry** ,"_ Eddie says, and he sounds relieved, but also maybe a little angry. _"Where have you been? Everyone's been looking **everywhere** for you."_

Barry stares into the darkness of the flat, not really seeing it. "I don't know," he admits. "I'm not sure I was really here." 

Eddie doesn't seem to have a response for that. 

"Len and Mick found me," he offers, because he thinks Iris, at least, would like to know that. 

Eddie lets out a long breath, then says, clearly to Iris, _"Rory and Snart found him."_ And then, to Barry, _"Captain Singh approved some leave for you – guess you've been looking pretty stressed – but you've probably only got another three days or so before he starts talking about firing you."_

Barry can make a pretty good guess about who put in for his leave, given Joe couldn't look at him last time they were in the same room, so he says, "Thanks, Eddie." 

_"Yeah. Get back soon, won't you? I'm tired of waiting for my lab results."_

_" **Eddie** ,"_ Iris complains in the background. 

Barry's kind of surprised to catch himself smiling, and he reaches up to touch his mouth like a part of him isn't certain it's real. 

_"We'll see you whenever you get back,"_ Eddie amends. 

"Yeah. Soon," Barry agrees. "I should go." 

_"Thanks for calling,"_ Eddie tells him. _"Even if it **did** make Iris cry."_

Barry hangs up on the sounds of their play-fighting, warmed a little to have heard their voices, to be assured they're getting by okay. 

He takes his time finishing his hot chocolate, staring down at the burner and debating ringing one of the others. In the end, though, he doesn't bother calling anyone else. Instead, he returns his mug to the kitchen, then climbs back into the bed between his boyfriends. 

"Barry?" Len mumbles, one arm snaking around him and tugging him closer. 

"Yeah," he whispers and presses a kiss against Len's forehead. "I'm sorry." 

And that, inexplicably, is the moment Barry starts to cry. 

The bed shifts around him and Barry's pulled into the familiar circle of Len's arms, hiding his face against his shoulder, and Mick's pressing up close behind him, his arms going around both him and Len. It feels a little like they've been expecting this, had maybe even practiced the move just in case, and the thought is strange and warming and Barry clings tight to Len, sobbing out all the grief and loss that had chased him halfway across the country. 

-0-

When he wakes the next time, the bed is still body-warm on Len's side, but Mick's clearly been up for a while. A familiar snarl and the following yelp from the kitchen tells where they are. He creeps out to look and finds Mick standing over the hob with two spatulas, one clearly meant for the food, while the other is being used to fend off Len. It's a familiar show, and Barry feels himself grinning widely as Len makes another grab for a strip of bacon, snatching his hand back right before the spatula can come down on it. 

When Len finally manages to get away with a strip of bacon, Barry speeds forward to snatch it from him, then speeds into one of the seats at the table, slowing to a normal speed to eat it. 

His boyfriends are utterly still for a moment, and then Len points at Barry and shouts, "Cheat!" 

And then, while Mick's distracted, Len snatches another piece of bacon and shoves it into his mouth, as if that would really keep Barry from stealing it. It _certainly_ doesn't save him from Mick's spatula, but his victorious smirk doesn't falter at the hit. 

"Good morning," Len says as he sits across from Barry. 

Barry clears his throat and is grateful that his voice is only a little rough when he replies, "Morning." 

A glass of orange juice appears on the table in front of him, and Barry sends Mick's retreating back a grateful smile as he takes the hint and takes a drink. 

Len rolls his eyes, as if he wouldn't have done the exact same thing if he'd been the one up. "I see you called your sister." 

Barry nods and admits, "I needed to hear her voice." 

Len tilts his head to the side in that way that means he understands, and Barry knows there are days when Len or Lisa ring each other and spend a couple of hours bitching at each other just because one of them needed to hear the other one being _alive_.

"I'm sorry," Barry says, the same as he'd started to say in the night. He feels the same threat of tears, but he manages to swallow them down. "I let him get to me. Wells." 

Len's long fingers fold together on the tabletop, and Mick won't turn around to look at either of them. "In all fairness," Len says, his voice forced-casual, and Barry _hates it_ , "we _did_ kill him before–"

"He was never going to confess," Barry interrupts. And it's only as he says it that he realizes it's the truth. Because Wells had danced around the topic, had tried to get Barry to go _back_ in time instead, and then he'd taunted him when Mick had got in the way. "He...he was never going to confess," Barry hears himself repeat as though from a great distance. 

"No," Len agrees, and he sounds a little like he's hurting just as much as Barry is, "he wasn't." 

Barry swallows against the wave of grief that threatens to pull him back under, and when he reaches across the table, desperate for some sort of connection, he's unspeakably grateful that Len threads their fingers together without hesitation. Barry uses the contact to steady himself, then says, "I shouldn't have run." 

"All have t' run sum'times," Mick tells him as he brings over three plates, expertly balanced between his hands. Len and Barry let go of each other so they can take their plates, leaving Mick to step around Barry's seat and take the one next to him. "You jest happen t' run further'n the rest of us." 

Barry sighs and pokes at the food on his plate, his appetite having left him. 

Len reaches across the table and covers his hand with his own. "Barry," he calls quietly, and when Barry looks up, he's pinned by an intent stare. "Just never run so far we can't catch you up." 

Mick's hand comes to rest against his nape, warm and familiar. 

"I won't," Barry promises. 

Len smiles his crooked, fond little smile and Mick's thumb brushes over the fine hairs at the top of Barry's neck. His appetite, miraculously, returns, and Barry finally lets himself relax into the familiar warmth of his home.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got one more multi-part fic for this series that's mostly done, titled _Nobly Save or Meanly Lose_ (no promise about when it'll get posted; also, fyi, it's VERY OC-heavy), and Singh's fic is probably about halfway done, to start posting after NSoML. StillNotGinger10 is trying to get me to write a fic where Felicity finally meets the boys, and I'll probably start working on that after Singh's fic. Other than that, I don't think I have any other ideas for this series. Maybe something for _Family of Rogues_ , dunno. We'll see. (I make no promises. :P)


End file.
